Houlihan Lokey Advises Anastasi

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Anastasi S.r.l. (Anastasi) has been acquired by Irca S.p.A., (Irca) a portfolio company of Advent International. Anastasi’s shareholders will reinvest a portion of their proceeds into Irca and will continue to contribute to Anastasi’s expansion at a national and international level. The transaction closed on 26 October 2022.

Founded in 1972 by Giuseppe Anastasi and headquartered in Bronte (Sicily), Italy, Anastasi is a leading Italian food ingredient company that specialises in the manufacturing of semi‐finished pistachio-based products. Its product portfolio consists of shelled, peeled, chopped, and semi‐finished pistachio products, such as pistachio pastes.

Anastasi is a leading B2B player serving European and non‐European markets. The group's main customers are food industries (e.g. producers of confectionery, artisanal and industrial ice creams, preserves, cold cuts, and sausages; distributors for bars, pastry shops, ice creams, and hotels, restaurants, and cafés; and packers and co‐packers for large-scale retail.

Headquartered in Gallarate (Lombardy), Italy, Irca is a food company at the forefront of the ingredients and preparations sector. For more than 100 years, Irca has been supplying all professional B2B channels, including gelato parlours, patisseries, hotels, restaurants, artisans, and large‐scale manufacturers, with a portfolio of products spanning a wide range of categories, such as mixes for bakeries, confectioners’ creams, various types of chocolate, and swirls for gelato.

Irca is a portfolio company of Advent International, one of the largest and longest-serving independent private equity partnerships, which employs a long‐established strategy of operationally intensive, sector‐focused investing across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Since its foundation in 1984, Advent has completed more than 395 private equity investments across 41 countries and has €69 billion in assets under management.

With the acquisition of Anastasi, Irca takes yet another decisive step to further strengthen its positioning in the dried fruit niche.

Houlihan Lokey acted as the sole financial advisor to Anastasi throughout the sale process, from the preparation of the initial marketing material for the company and the initial contacts with potential buyers to the final negotiation with the counterparty. The transaction demonstrates Houlihan Lokey’s strength in the food ingredient sector as well as the benefits of deep local relationships coupled with industry expertise. All these provided for achieving superior valuation and outcomes for the client.