DDA & Company advises Steliau Technology on a transformative external growth transaction, with the acquisition of Special-Ind

Steliau Technology, a leading player specialized in value-added supply of electronic solutions, significantly broadens its European operations with the acquisition of the Italian company Special-Ind. This non-intermediated transaction is fully consistent with Steliau Technology’s strategic plan to expand throughout Europe, mainly by external growth. The newly formed Group should record pro-forma revenues of over €80 m for the current Fiscal Year.

Based in Milan, Special-Ind has a staff of around 60 people and subsidiaries in Spain, Germany, and France. The rationale for the acquisition stands in the strong product range complementarity: Special- Ind brings its positions in Automotive Harnesses, Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Electric Vehicles, Connectors, Electromechanics, Embedded systems & Display, Thermal and Energy Conversion as well as tailored products for telecommunications and radio transmission.

Special-Ind’s customer base covers a large variety of sectors, such as Automotive, Aerospace, Industry, and Consumer goods.

Massimo Loche, CEO of Special-Ind, will remain in charge whereas Fabio Pietribiasi, Chairman, should leave after an overlapping period aimed at facilitating a smooth transition until the end of 2021.

“We started searching for external growth targets operating in Italy and Spain at the end of 2019. We quickly spotted Special-Ind as a company matching our requirements in terms of critical size, complementarity between our product ranges, and culture of designing value-added solutions.” explained Stéphane Jouannaud, Chairman of Steliau International. He added: “We shall generate top line synergies by sharing with Special-Ind our know-how in the areas of Display & Touch Panel, Connectivity, and Thermal solutions.”

Massimo Loche, CEO of Special-Ind, commented: “The merger with Steliau Technology carries a huge number of development opportunities for the coming years, with extended suppliers’ networks and the potential to launch new value-added activities. They will make it possible to enlarge the customer base and addressed business sectors.”

The acquisition of Special-Ind is the 5th transaction advised by DDA & Company on behalf of Steliau and its shareholders, and the 2nd transformative external growth transaction, after the acquisition of Stone in 2017.

Alain Sitbon, Partner at DDA & Company comments: “After more than 7 years of collaboration with the Group and 4 advised operations, we are proud to have supported Steliau in a new structuring operation, a key step in the European development strategy.”

Stakeholders in this Transaction

Acquirers

Steliau: Managers (Stéphane Jouannaud, Pascal Reynoud, Aurélien Bergé, Lionel Girardot)
Financial partners:
- B & Capital (Bertrand Tissot, Mikaël Schaller, Charles Gaudry)
- Swen Capital Partners (Jean-Philippe Richaud, Natalia Rey Vidal, Théodore Lecomte)
M&A advisors: DDA & Company (Alain Sitbon, Clément Darcourt)
Legal:
- Structuring: Apollo Avocats (Guillaume de Ternay, Paul Crabié, Emmanuelle Prost, Victoire Blanc)
- Due Diligence: Rossi & Associati Associati (Matteo Rossi, Mara Florianello, Mathilde Brun)
- Financing: Paul Hastings (Marc Zerah, Peter Pedrazzani)
Tax & Financial Due Diligence: BDO (Ferdinando Fraschini, Giorgio Falcione, Francesco Bini, Ciarlo Gabriele, Gracis Pietro)

Sellers

Special-Ind (Fabio Pietribiasi, Martina Clementina Passera, Alessandro Maria Passera, Marina Pietribiasi)
Financial advisors: Studio Palladini (Emilio Palladini, Giovanni Palladini)
Legal: Studio Legale Beccaria & Capurro (Manuel Capurro)

Financing

Idinvest Partners (Nicolas Nedelec, Olivier Sesboüé, Victoire Vanheuverswyn)
CIC Private Debt (Nicolas Offroy, Antoine Guérillon)
Advisor: DLA Piper (Maud Manon, Pierre Tardivo, Glenda Pereire-Robert, Méliné Torikian)

About Steliau Technology

Founded in 2018, Steliau Technology has a total headcount of around fifty people located in the offices of Fresnes and Montrouge. The Group brings together two well established entities, each with in-depth know-how in their fields: Astone Technology, a specialist in the electronics sector for more than twenty years, which benefits from a high level of technical expertise in Connectivity, Internet of Things, Display, Energy conversion and Audio components, and Silfox, renowned for its thermal, connector and mechatronics expertise.

Following the merger of the two entities, Steliau Technology has a commercial portfolio with complementary positioning to propose a range of products and services adapted to suit each professional customer profile.

Steliau Technology customer base includes around 1 000 companies from sectors such as Transportation, Industry, Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Retail, Defense & Aeronautics, Automotive.