The Celli Group, a company specialising in the design and production of beverage dispensing systems and accessories, has announced its strategic acquisition of 100% of CAB Spa’s share capital. This is the 12th acquisition in 9 years, and it represents another strategic step forward for the Celli Group, with the aim of complementing their already wide range of products, and entering a new market, such as the frozen drinks sector. This further acquisition – after the Uquido software house and the Spanish Reyvarsur, and after opening their commercial branches in France and Spain in 2022, is an important phase within a growth project that saw the Group close 2022 with a growing turnover of +33%, compared to 2021, during which the pre-pandemic figures had already been recovered, with the goal of reaching 180 million sales in 2023.
Founded in 1986, Cab is an excellent family run Italian company, based in Pozzuoli (Napoli), and specializing in the design and production of granita machines, and cold and hot drink dispensers. With 16 employees, its production in a 2000 sqm plant in Pozzuoli serves over 120 customers in Italy, and abroad.
The Caiano family will remain at the help of Cab S.p.A., with Luca Caiano taking over the role of CEO, to ensure consistency to the corporate management, pursue the commercial development, and coordinate the implementation of synergies with the Celli Group.
“The Celli Group has a clear vision: developing beverage dispensing systems as alternatives to “single use packaging”, says Mauro Gallavotti, Celli Group CEO and President, to offer new, more sustainable consumer experiences to end consumers, and the option of implementing new business models to the beverage industry. Cab will help the Celli Group expand their offer, and, in turn, the Group will offer Cab and its customers worldwide sales support and technical support services in the main European Countries.
I am honoured to welcome the Caiano family to our Group, as they have showed their ability to create and guide an excellent, world-renowned company and a great source of pride for made in Italy, for over thirty years.”
“We have always been focused on top quality and innovation for our range of products – says Luca Caiano, CAB CEO – and that is why our customers trust us. We are honoured to become part of a multinational, global leading Group, such as Celli’s. This acquisition will give us the chance to expand our business in Italy and in the rest of the world even further, and to offer greater sales and technical support to our customers.”
The Celli Group was assisted by BDO, for financial and tax due diligence, by Ramboll, for HSE aspects, and by Ughi and Nunziante law firm, for legal issues. CAB was assisted by Equity Factory as financial advisor, and by Quorum, for all legal aspects.
THE CELLI GROUP
The Celli Group is a global leader in the beverage dispensing (beer, soft drinks and water) systems and accessories field. With over 1000 employees, the Company – based in San Giovanni in Marignano, Rimini – has 8 production plants in Italy, UK, France and Spain, and sales branches in Germany, Singapore, Brazil and the United States, and exports its products in over 100 Countries worldwide. The Group’s preliminary balance for 2022 has reached 165 million Euro, thanks to a strong organic growth and through the acquisitions made in Italy, UK and Spain. Since 2015, the Group has acquired the English companies ADS2, Angram Ltd, FJE Plastic Development Ltd, MF Refrigeration and T&J Installation, the Italian companies Cosmetal, Tecnofrigo, Ergosystem and Uqido, and the Spanish company Reyvarsur. In 2019, the private investment company Ardian entered the Group by acquiring 100% of its capital, with the aim of supporting its growth and expansion also at an international level and continuing the economic development completed by the independent private equity fund Consilium Sgr that supported the Group in the previous 5 years. Celli has also developed in-house the most advanced IoT platform for beverage dispensing systems for the remote and real-time monitoring of the performance of all the dispensing machines to manage consumption and operation. Still in the technological sector, in 2021, the Celli Group signed an agreement with Cocktailsmachine srl (a technological start-up based in Milan and specialized in the preparation and digital dispensing of cocktails), in order to develop, produce and market innovative digital and smart systems, to prepare and dispense alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails. In 2021, the new branch “Celli Asset Management” was established in Rimini, which through a b2b and b2c e-commerce platform operated via Salesforce and Microsoft technology manages the full life cycle of the assets previously managed by third parties. When it comes to the water sector, Celli owns the Acqua Alma brand, which features a range of products for residential consumption (Acqua Alma Green Building and Acqua Alma Green Family) and out-of-home consumption (Acqua Alma Green Restaurant and Acqua Alma Green Office); furthermore, it holds several partnerships involving the restaurant and sports sector (Accademia Niko Romito, Sonia Peronaci, Federica Brignone), and environmental sustainability (Legambiente). The Group is one of the founding partners of the Community Valore Acqua per l’Italia – a high-level platform for discussing the topics of water resource management, as driver of competitiveness and development, launched by The European House Ambrosetti.