Billionaire Benettons strike private capital merger in expansion push
Family holding company has agreed to merge its asset management arm 21 Invest with Milan-based Tages
Italy’s billionaire Benetton family is combining its private capital business with a rival, as it embarks on an ambitious plan to triple its assets under management to €10bn in the next five years.
Edizione, the family’s holding company, has agreed to merge its asset management arm 21 Invest with Milan-based Tages to create 21 Next, which will be controlled by Edizione and will manage a combined €3bn in assets.
Alessandro Benetton, 61, scion of the family which owes its fortune to the United Colors of Benetton fashion brand, will chair the group. Tages co-founder Panfilo Tarantelli, 70, will serve as chief executive.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Benetton said he sees asset management becoming a much larger part of Edizione’s holdings and that 21 Next will seek to expand both organically and through further consolidation of private capital firms.
“We are launching this project at a very favourable moment because there is a transition happening in the [private capital] industry,” Benetton said, arguing that the days of buyout firms simply adding leverage and selling companies to generate large returns were over.
“Now it’s much harder than before, it’s a technological issue with what is going on with the impact of AI as well as a talent issue.” Edizione is better suited to making operational improvements to deliver better returns at portfolio companies given its history, he added.
As part of the deal, Edizione will provide an initial €500mn of seed capital to the newly formed firm.