EQUITA assisted Casaroli – Ziglioli – Dei
The electrical equipment distribution market in Italy was dominated by numerous local companies until the early 1990s.
During the 1990s, some multinationals began a process of consolidation through acquisitions, but ran into the danger of a gradual depersonalization of the relationship with local customers.
Italian operators were presented with the alternative between ceding to large European groups or competing with increasing difficulty in a market where large size allows higher margins, thanks to purchasing economies.
In order to cope with the new scenario, Casaroli and Ziglioli, two leading companies in their respective markets with turnovers of 15 million euros each, had already been studying for some years the hypothesis of creating an aggregation pole of some strong local realities, able to cope with the new competitors thanks above all to the customer loyalty relationship and the high level of service they can offer.
In fact, this strategy allows them to achieve the critical mass necessary to compete in the new scenario (thanks to synergies on purchasing, logistics, administrative and IT functions) and to maintain, as a strong point, a direct and trusted relationship with customers.
The merger of Casaroli and Ziglioli into DEI New Electric srl, an operation carried out in May 2004 with K Finance of Milan acting as sole advisor, is one of the first in the sector and will certainly have considerable resonance in its target market.
The birth of a hub offering coverage of numerous provinces in Lombardy and Emilia Romagna should therefore represent an important catalyst for leading companies in other provinces and provide an effective nucleus for further aggregation processes.
