Milbank Advises the Financing Banks on BC Partners’ Public-to-Private Takeover Bid for IMA S.p.A.

IMA S.p.A. (“IMA”) recently announced that the shareholders of its controlling entity So.Fi.M.A. Società Finanziaria Macchine Automatiche S.p.A. (“SOFIMA”) reached agreement to sell approximately 20% (which may increase to up to 45%) of their shareholding in SOFIMA, to funds advised by BC Partners LLP. The parties currently anticipate that the transaction will close in November 2020, after which SOFIMA will be required to launch a mandatory tender offer (“MTO”) to acquire the remaining outstanding share capital of IMA (currently representing approximately 48.4% of IMA’s total outstanding share capital). The goal of the MTO is to achieve a delisting from the Milan Stock Exchange, where IMA has been listed since 1995. The transaction values the total equity of IMA at €2.93 billion.

IMA is a world leader in the design and manufacturing of automatic machines for the processing and packaging of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, tea, coffee and foods, and a material presence in electric motor production processes.

Milbank represented the lead arrangers in providing committed bank and bridge financing to support the takeover offer to IMA shareholders.

The Milbank team was led by European Leveraged Finance/Capital Markets partners Apostolos Gkoutzinis and Suhrud Mehta, with partner Alexandra Grant, special counsel Randy Nahle, associates Rahul Chatterji, Varun Natteri Mangadu, Danielle Brown, Karen Chen, Francesca Mosely and Anish Mohanty and trainee solicitor Tom Rhys Jones. The team also included London Tax associate James Seddon.