You don't need a crystal ball to guess that within a few weeks the sector of management and processing of financial data, will bring big news. In particular, companies dealing with so-called alternative assets, NPLs and real estate services will be interested. And they will be above all two protagonists who have every intention of pulling the strings: Andrew Pignataro e Fabrizio Palenzona through companies Ion e Prelios. But they are behind them many credit institutions who bet on next moves.
Ma who is Andrea Pignataro? A shy man and outside the financial scene, but considered theElon Musk at home, Has many debts, but also many resources, so much so that it is the second richest man Italy. Among his clients there are governments, central banks and some of the largest companies in the world, as Amazon and Microsoft. In Italy He invested 5 billion in companies. And he has no intention of selling.
Pignataro's Ion buys Prelios for 1,35 billion
Just recently the Ion of Pignataro purchased the Milanese from the American fund Davidson Kempner Prelios, formerly Pirelli Real Estate, a company specialized in the management of alternative assets, non-performing loans, unlikely-to-pay exposures and real estate funds, with assets under management of over 40 billion euros. Thus was born what industry observers indicate as one of the major players Italians in world of credit and finance, as well as a hub in the management of impaired loans. Having obtained all the necessary authorizations, despite long waits, in mid-June the green light arrived from the Bank of Italy, while in March the commission expressed its opinion on Golden Power. Prelios is presiding Fabrizio Palenzona who is indicated to remain at the top of the company even after the operation, as well as Riccardo Serrini he will remain CEO.
The risk in the credit sector is only just beginning: eyes on the large operators
The field of financial services globally, including Italy, is looking for a new structure and new efficiency. On the horizon the sector awaits the implementation of the Secondary Market Directive, the so-called NPL directive, which is intended to simplify operations between countries and create a secondary credit market. According to observers, there are three key trends that are shaping the financial services sector globally, including Italy: consolidation among servicer to improve operational efficiency, theadvanced data analysis with the continuous management of flows in the financial sector and the convergence between data, software and finance.
THEIon-Prelios union moves exactly in this area, but we are only at thebeginning of the risk of the sector. In June doValue has acquired Gardant creating a European NPL giant, but the eyes are on now onto others large operators: from Bank Ifis a Guber Bank until Amco which, under the new management of Andrea Munari, could significantly change direction compared to the past.
Pignataro, the local Musk, is the second richest man in Italy
“Pignataro is a champion” is Palenzona's assist. “I am convinced that a conversation with the human Andrea rather than with the inhuman Elon would be more useful to our prime minister and the country”.
Andrea Pignataro, considered the Musk at home, a man who handles numbers and information, actually appears little on the financial stages. It appeared, however, for example, the only Italian, as well unique European, to world conference of Jp Morgan on technology with the 100 largest leaders in the sector: next to him Sam altman by Open Ai ea Satya Nadella by Microsoft. “Being almost 70 years old, I have met many valuable entrepreneurs, but Pignataro is unique because it combines the characteristics of a scientist, of a manager who is also expert in financial matters and of the visionary, all combined with extraordinary human qualities" continues Palenzona.
Forbes recently proclaimed Pignataro the second richest man in Italy after Giovanni Ferrero, with a assets of 27,5 billion dollars. He was born in Bologna in 1970 and began working at Salomon Brothers, a historic Wall Street investment bank that merged with Citigroup at the end of the 90s. He loves sailing, travels on a private jet and has homes in Saint Moritz, in London, in the Belgravia district, and in Milan in the San Siro area. He has invested in real estate in Milan, Pisa and Sardinia and spent almost 300 million on Canouan Estate, a 1.280-acre property with villas and luxury hotels in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in the Caribbean. The family safe is in Luxembourg.
The foundation stone of Ion Group Pignataro the cutlery in 1999 with the idea of creating a company based on algorithms, an 'algo-company', as he said in an interview with Sole24ore years ago. Ion actually does this: it develops algorithms, analyzes the many data that its companies collect, calculating the risk of the activities and translates them into financial services. Among his clients there are governments, central banks and some of the largest companies in the world, such as Amazon and Microsoft.
Pignataro also has a lot of debts, but what matters for financiers is the ebitda
And especially in debt that Pignataro's operations move forward, supported by the main leaders credit institution, which in turn rely more than anything else on his ebitda. But his philosophy is not that of many equity funds (buy and then sell): Pignataro buy company with the intention of keep them in your portfolio and let them grow.
To finance thepurchase of Prelios the Ion resorted to a financing of around 600 million arrived from a pool banking which alone gives the idea of the forces alongside the financier: in the lead Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and Bnp Paribas and also composed of Banco Bpm, Standard Chartered Bank and Mediobanca in front of one leads group total estimated at the beginning of 2023 five times the EBITDA.
Based on Bloomberg data, on a total debt of around 11 billion, between 2028 and 2030 they go bonds expire for an amount of 6,3 billion of equivalent value in euros. There are those who subscribe to these bonds practically all international institutional investors, especially Americans. Considering both bonds and loans, the weighted average cost of Ion's exposition is around 8%, which is a "return in line with those expressed by leveraged buy-outs in the software sector" says an industry expert. This is because, it is true that i debts are high, but Pignataro can still count on 2,1 billion ebitda (the cash flow is 2 billion) and therefore expresses a debt/ebitda multiple of 5,2 times.
Presence in Italy: purchases for 4,7 billion
Italy has been one of the fulcrums of Ion's strategy for several years. This is demonstrated by the fact that they refer to national activities ebitda e total cash flow of 450 million su 2,4 billion in debt. In recent years Ion He ran over in Italy around 5 billion of which 4,7 billion for a purchasing campaign which he targeted before Cedacri, outsourcing services for the banking sector for 1,5 billion, then Cerved, credit information and credit management for 2,6 billion, therefore List, software for the financial sector for 500 million. Without forgetting the entry into the shareholding of Ps during the last capital increase of 2,5 billion (2%), of Illimity, Corrado Passera's digital bank (9,99%), in Italian Strategic Fund (9,9%) and in Volterra Bank (32%). Overall, Ion has committed almost a third of the resources invested in Italy from 2005 to today and employs around 6.000 employees, 500 of whom were hired under the new management. There are over 20 thousand employees worldwide.
Cerved, Cedacri and List together had a turnover of 1 billion in 2023
In 2023 Cerved, Cedacri and List have registered a total turnover of approximately 1,03 billions of euros, even if the groups traveled at different speeds. The numbers have grown Cedacri: the outsourcing services company for the banking sector which recorded revenues of 489,2 million, up 5,2% compared to 2022 thanks above all to the 9,5% jump in the core banking sector. Ebitda also increased, going from 152 to 182 million (+20%) with the consequence that the income statement closed with a net profit of 17,5 million compared to the loss of 14,5 million in the previous year. On the debt front, Cedacri's financial position improved from -515 to -510 million due to the decrease in consolidated liabilities which, during 2023, fell from 192 to 133 million.
The results were less brilliant Cerved. The Milanese servicer active in the recovery of impaired loans and credit information saw total revenues and income fall by 4,1% to 483,9 million. The decline, explains the financial statement, is attributable to the performance of the real estate area and, secondarily, of business intelligence. The decline, however, was balanced by the reduction in operating costs (decreased from 294 to 274 million) and by the progressive improvement in production efficiency. EBITDA thus remained stable at 210 million, while the loss was reduced from 35 to 16 million despite an increase in financial charges which went from 129 to 131 million in the period under review. More contained but stable numbers were recently recorded by Ion's third Italian subsidiary, List, the Pisa-based company active in software for the financial sector. 2023 ended with stationary revenues in the 56 million area and ebitda growing from 26,8 to 28,8 million. Also in this case the balance sheet closes with a loss, even if the red was reduced from 23,2 to 19,4 million euros.
