Private equity fund Ambienta IV invests in Previero Kunsstoffrecycling

Milan/London/Paris/Munich — Ambi­enta SGR SpA (“Ambi­enta”), one of the largest Euro­pean asset mana­gers focu­sed on envi­ron­men­tal sustaina­bi­lity, announ­ces the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in Previero N S.r.l. (“Previero”). The company is curr­ently mana­ged by the third gene­ra­tion of the foun­ding family. It will conti­nue to bene­fit from Previero’s exten­sive expe­ri­ence in the recy­cling sector, as the family will retain a signi­fi­cant stake in the company.

Foun­ded in 1922 and based in Anzano del Parco (Como, Italy), the company is a pioneer in the field of mecha­ni­cal plas­tics recy­cling, driving market inno­va­tion and setting quality bench­marks. Today, Previero is one of the few provi­ders of turn­key recy­cling solu­ti­ons. These include all pre-proces­­sing (“from bale to flake”) and cover all types of plas­tics (PET bott­les, films, rubber). With around 110 employees, Previero is prima­rily active in R&D, engi­nee­ring and assembly/testing. Over the years, the company has deve­lo­ped a diffe­ren­tia­ted and inte­gra­ted value propo­si­tion that addres­ses the incre­asing need of global recy­clers to find tech­no­logy part­ners to help them deve­lop and commis­sion complete recy­cling facilities.

With its solu­ti­ons, Previero is making a signi­fi­cant contri­bu­tion to the recy­cla­bi­lity of plas­tics — a process that is still in its infancy, as only 15% of the plas­tic waste produ­ced world­wide is actually recy­cled. Howe­ver, this share is expec­ted to nearly double by 2040 due to stric­ter regu­la­ti­ons and brand commit­ment. Previero thus fits perfectly into Ambienta’s invest­ment stra­tegy, as it repres­ents both an invest­ment in envi­ron­men­tal protec­tion and resource effi­ci­ency. Previero’s turn­key recy­cling solu­ti­ons turn post-consu­­mer waste and post-indus­­trial waste into high-quality flakes, with posi­tive impacts on mate­ri­als reuse, CO2 emis­si­ons reduc­tion, and energy and land­fill space savings.

Tech­no­lo­gi­cal and regu­la­tory advan­ces, the alre­ady visi­ble acce­le­ra­tion of invest­ments in addi­tio­nal recy­cling capa­city world­wide, and the incre­asing demand for high-end solu­ti­ons to produce food-grade recy­cled mate­rial offer great oppor­tu­ni­ties for Previero. Ambi­enta aims to help the company capi­ta­lize on these oppor­tu­ni­ties and — by provi­ding finan­cial and manage­ment resour­ces, encou­ra­ging further invest­ment in physi­cal and human capi­tal, and broa­der colla­bo­ra­tion with the three Previero brot­hers — become an even stron­ger player in the global marketplace.

Previero is the first plat­form invest­ment of Ambienta’s latest fund, Ambi­enta IV. It is the largest Euro­pean private equity fund ever laun­ched, focu­sed exclu­si­vely on compa­nies that are driving posi­tive envi­ron­men­tal change in their respec­tive indus­tries. The fund closed in July 2022 after only six months of active marke­ting at the cap of 1.55 billion euros.

Mauro Roversi, Foun­ding Part­ner and Private Equity CIO at Ambi­enta, commen­ted: “Plas­tics are now ubiqui­tous in the modern economy, and their consump­tion is expec­ted to double again in the next 20 years. The need to increase the recy­cla­bi­lity of plas­tics is ther­e­fore beco­ming incre­asingly urgent. All global consu­mer pack­a­ging and retail compa­nies have commit­ted to achie­ving up to 50% recy­cled content in their pack­a­ging by 2030. Global invest­ment in addi­tio­nal recy­cling capa­city will ther­e­fore increase signi­fi­cantly over the next decade.”

Andrea Ventu­rini, Prin­ci­pal at Ambi­enta, added: “Previero is a pioneer in this field, outper­forming its compe­ti­tors in terms of quality and deli­very times, with outstan­ding R&D and engi­nee­ring capa­bi­li­ties. We look forward to working with the Previero family and contri­bu­ting to the company’s contin­ued growth and inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion, with the goal of estab­li­shing Previero as the world’s leading provi­der of inte­gra­ted and sustainable recy­cling solutions.”

Flavio Previero, Chair­man of Previero, added: “In Ambi­enta we have found a part­ner capa­ble of under­stan­ding the history and poten­tial of the company. Ambienta’s indus­trial and inter­na­tio­nal exper­tise will help us take advan­tage of the many oppor­tu­ni­ties ahead more quickly and effectively.”

Consul­tant Ambienta: 
McKin­sey (commer­cial due diligence)
Peder­soli (Law)
EY (finance and ESG) and GPBLex (tax and struc­tu­ring) advised.

About Ambi­enta
Ambi­enta is a Euro­pean envi­ron­men­tal sustaina­bi­lity inves­tor specia­li­zing in private equity, public markets and private credit. From Milan, London, Paris and Munich, Ambi­enta mana­ges assets of more than 3 billion euros. The focus is on inves­t­ing in private and publicly traded compa­nies that are driven by envi­ron­men­tal mega­trends and whose products or services improve resource effi­ci­ency and envi­ron­men­tal protection.

In private equity, Ambi­enta has made 64 invest­ments to date. In the public equity sector, Ambi­enta has laun­ched one of the world’s largest abso­lute return funds fully focu­sed on envi­ron­men­tal sustaina­bi­lity and mana­ges a whole range of other sustainable invest­ment products from low-risk multi-asset funds to long-only equity funds. Ambi­enta has also recently laun­ched a private credit stra­tegy, which — as with the other invest­ment clas­ses — focu­ses on envi­ron­men­tal sustaina­bi­lity. www.ambientasgr.com