The agreement for the sale of the majority of the shares has been sign

METRA ANNOUNCED TODAY THE AGREEMENT FOR THE SALE OF THE MAJORITY OF THE COMPANY’S SHARES TO THE US FUND KPS CAPITAL PARTNERS, CONSOLIDATING ITS STRATEGIC INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Metra, one of the first non-integrated aluminium extrusion companies in Europe, founded in 1962 by 4 families of entrepreneurs from Brescia, namely the Bertoli family, the Giacomelli Family, the Marinelli family and the Zanetti family, was amongst the creators of aluminium profile systems for windows and doors in the mid-60s. The company quite rapidly expanded its activities into the field of design and construction of profiles for industrial uses destined for diverse applications. To satisfy precisely the needs of the various sectors, ranging from the building and construction to automotive sector and railway transport, to mechanical engineering, pneumatics, structural applications, Metra, being at the forefront of other privately owned extrusion companies, ahead of its time and quick off the mark in making choices, soon equipped itself with a 6,000-ton extrusion press with great pushing power for the production of large size extrusions. Following a recent reorganization, the distinctive character of the company has come out stronger in the two souls that characterize Metra, that of Building for architectural use and that of Industry for applications in various industrial fields, with the aim of always making the most of the production capacity of high-quality aluminium extrusions, complete with additional finishing and processing. Maximum diversification for the specificity of the two segments which are different from each other with regards to the type of products and clients but with the same company vision in considering the extrusions as a precious raw product to be enhanced even further with innovative design values in collaboration with the users, in the interests of the company and of the market. The magazine “A&L – Aluminium and its alloys” interviewed Eng. Enrico Zampedri, CEO of the company at the end of last year, who had spoken widely on the developments of the company and on the good perspectives; with an overall certified production volume in 2019 of around 57,000 tons of extrusions, subdivided in terms of volume between 65% in the Industry Division and 35% in the building Division, Metra has about a 10% share in the Italian market and over 1.5% share in the European market and it is able to strengthen its share in a decreasing market. Over the 2018-2020 three-year period the group has generated a turnover exceeding 255MIO euros and an average EBITDA of 25.5MIO euros. Despite the strain imposed by the pandemic in 2020 the corporate results have been satisfactory. So far in 2021 orders have increased by 30% over the three-year period average.

Today, the Bertoli, Giacomelli, Marinelli and Zanetti families have announced that the agreement for the sale of the majority of METRA’s shares to the US fund KPS Capital Partners has been signed, the transaction is planned for the second quarter 2021. The funders will keep 25% of the company’s capital. Once completed, the METRA transaction will be the fourth of the KPS special situations Mid-Cap fund in Europe.

Enrico Zampedri, CEO of METRA, has declared: “We’re excited of this partnership with KPS because METRA will be in a position of facing the international growth and development challenges with higher momentum. KPS is a consolidated and successful investment fund in the metalworking industry with a demonstrated ability to create value in this sector. Our shared targets include product excellence and quality as well as customer service, the cornerstones of METRA’s decade-long strategy. We also focus on environment protection in addition to workers’ health and safety in full respect of the KPS tradition. KPS’s large financial resources and the wide opportunities its network offer us will help us achieve our objectives much faster.”

Pierre de Villeméjane, Partner to KPS Mid-Cap Investments, has declared: “We’re very glad of this transaction. METRA is a leading company in its sector and has a successful heritage in addition to many development chances in several sectors and markets still to be exploited. The founding families, along with CEO Enrico Zampedri and all METRA’s staff, will do their best to take advantage of all the opportunities for growth through the large sums invested by the company over the last years and the sums we’re going to invest in facilities and organization. METRA’s experience and industrial know how, along with KPS’s strategic, operational and financial resources, provide the basis for this partnership’s future growth that will follow an in-house path as well as a strategy of global acquisitions.”

METRA has been followed in this transaction by the financial advisor Lazard S.r.l., the law practice Allen & Overy as legal advisor and EY for the financial and fiscal Vendor Due Diligence. KPS has been assisted by Intesa Sanpaolo –IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Division and by the law practice Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as financial and legal advisors respectively, while Deloitte carried out the financial and fiscal due diligence. Intesa Sanpaolo, CreditAgricole, Banco BPM and Banca IFIS are the financing banks.

The METRA group

METRA is a vertically integrated global company in the sector of aluminium profile extrusion and connected value-added services. From foundry to extrusion, from machining to welding, from coating to assembly: an in-house design department develops co-engineering activities with the customers. The company manufactures a comprehensive range of aluminium profiles for both the building sector (used to clad iconic building such as the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, the Bosco Verticale in Milan, and the One Vanderbilt skyscraper in New York) and the industrial world (high-speed train coaches, automotive, energy, pneumatic applications, etc.) sold all over Europe and in North America.

METRA consists of two marketing divisions: METRA Building and METRA Industry, and has over 2000 active customers. The group has a total of 850 employees, 700 working in its Italian facilities (Rodengo Saiano, Ragusa, Serravalle) and 150 in Metra’s Canadian production site.

KPS Capital Partners

KPS is an investment fund having a 12.3MIO dollar portfolio companies (31 Dec 2020). For nearly three decades, the Partners of KPS have worked exclusively to acquire and improve businesses that manufacture a diverse array of products across a broad number of industries: raw materials, brandname products, healthcare, automotive parts, plant engineering. KPS’ investment strategy creates meaningful value in its portfolio companies that benefits its investors, management teams and the firm across economic and business cycles. KPS portfolio companies have a turnover of 10.6MIO dollars, operate 159 manufacturing facilities in 22 countries and employ 34,000 people. For details, see www.kpsfund.com.

KPS launched the KPS Mid-Cap fund to focus on investments in the lower end of the middle market targeting the same type of investment opportunities and utilize the same investment strategy that KPS has successfully pursued for over two decades. KPS Mid-Cap leverages and benefits from KPS’ global platform, reputation, track record, infrastructure, best practices, knowledge and experience. KPS Mid-Cap is managed by partners Pierre de Villeméjane and Ryan Harrison along with a team of talented and experienced collaborators.