Clessidra enters the capital of Bitolea Chimica Ecologica by acquiring a majority stake. At the operational helm of the Group remains the Intini family, which founded the business in 1978, with a minority stake.

K Finance, a partner of Clairfield International, and Banca Euromobiliare assisted the Intini family in the sale of the stake. The legal and tax side of the transaction was handled by Studio Russo De Rosa Bolletta e Associati for Bitolea and NCTM for Clessidra.

The transaction aims to enable Bitolea to continue its growth strategy, aimed especially at foreign markets. Not of secondary importance is the financial strengthening of the Group thanks to the support of a pool of banks (Unicredit, Banca IMI and Centrobanca) that reorganized the Group's financial structure without, however, increasing its debt level.

Domenico Intini, CEO of Bitolea, commented: "This transaction is of fundamental importance for us. The entry of a prestigious institutional partner such as Clessidra ensures Bitolea an ideal partner to support the Group's future growth, which must be aimed above all at international markets."

Giuseppe Turri, Senior Partner of Clessidra, said: "Bitolea is a very interesting reality in the panorama of the Italian chemical industry with unique characteristics in terms of potential and flexibility of its industrial set-up and process expertise. It is Clessidra's intention to further enhance them over time and, where possible, to foster Bitolea's growth also through acquisitions in sectors complementary to it."

"This transaction," comments Giuseppe Renato Grasso, Chairman of K Finance -"proves that when company assets are valuable and funds have credibility, private equity transactions are still possible."

Bitolea is an Italian leader in industrial liquid waste disposal and recovery, particularly solvents, through purification processes developed at the Landriano plant. The purified solvents are mixed and packaged at the Rho plant and distributed by the Group's Cambiaghi division. In addition to this activity Bitolea specializes in the production of pharmaceutical intermediates made in outsourcing for leading pharmaceutical industries. In 2011, the Group achieved a turnover of more than 115 million euros with a gross operating profitability of 15 percent.