ARCHIMED brings the take-private strategy to the mid-cap market with its acquisition. The pan-European healthcare private equity specialist expects to execute other take-private deals.

May 14, 2019 – Following the May 10 close of the official bid period mandated by Italian stock market regulator CONSOB, ARCHIMED announces that it has successfully acquired more than 99 percent of Bomi Group (the threshold for delisting the firm is 90 percent). The approximately €70 million takeover of Bomi Group, listed on Borsa Italia’s AIM market, was launched March 1. The transaction, conducted at €4.00 a share, represents a premium of some 31 percent over the group’s closing price the day before the bid’s announcement.

Bomi Group is the inaugural investment for the healthcare specialist’s new mid-market MED Platform I buy-and-build fund, which is expected to close on €800 million later this year. The delisted Bomi Group will serve as a platform for further add-on investments, with several candidates already identified.

“MED Platform I expects to do similar take-private deals on the premise that hard-to-understand Medtech companies have more runway for aggressive, profitable long-term growth once they’re freed from the dictates of the public markets,” says ARCHIMED founding Partner, Denis Ribon. “MED Platform I’s pipeline of acquisition candidates includes both public and private companies where we believe specialist knowledge of global healthcare and its opportunities can act as a catalyst for growth.”

The Bomi Group acquisition illustrates the appeal of take-privates today, even with mid-sized and small companies as targets – categories where there have been very few such deals until now, though large take-privates have flourished in recent months.

Founded in 1985, Bomi Group expanded rapidly over the years and today runs cutting edge transport, warehousing and supply chain management services for healthcare companies ranging from pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturers to hospitals, testing laboratories and outpatient service providers. Bomi Group operates in 20 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

ARCHIMED, working with the management team of chief executive Marco Ruini, son of founder and chairman Giorgio Ruini, plans to accelerate Bomi Group’s expansion in current and new geographies and in new Medtech-focused logistical services. ARCHIMED partner, André-Michel Ballester, who has over 30 years’ experience in the healthcare sector as a CEO at major European and U.S. Medtech specialists, will become BOMI’s new chairman, following the retirement of Giorgio Ruini.

“We know that ARCHIMED is the right partner to take Bomi Group’s growth to the next level,” says Marco Ruini. “In the private sector, with ARCHIMED’s counsel and with André-Michel as chairman, Bomi Group should move from strength to strength.” In a testament to his faith in the company, Marco Ruini is reinvesting more than 40 percent of his proceeds from the sale back into Bomi for a 5 percent stake.

Advisors:
Proxy Solicitation: Georgeson
Financial and Market Advisor: Equita SIM S.p.A.
Financial Due Diligence: KPMG
Tax: Bonafè Grifoni e Associati – Studio Legale Tributario
Legal:
_ For ARCHIMED: Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners (GOP)
_ For the Ruini family and Bomi Group: Simmons & Simmons