Delivering a market-leading buyout solution
Deutsche Bank’s tailored support for the leveraged buyout of an iconic Italian brand shows how our Bank for Entrepreneurs (BfE) delivers unique solutions competitors struggle to match.
When the Germanetti family decided to seek full ownership of the historic Italian clothing brand Ragno, the timetable was highly ambitious and the task challenging. While the family’s company Germabros Srl already owned a stake in Ragno, the best path to becoming the sole shareholders was not clear.
“Typically, we work with families that may already have 70 percent of the company and would like to reach 100 percent,” says Giovanni Sardi, of the Origination & Synergies team at Deutsche Bank’s Private Bank Italy. “Starting from 25 percent is very ambitious and the timetable made it even more ambitious. We started the dialogue in early March and they hoped to close the deal in June or July. Then, at a certain point, they said, ‘We need to close this in one month.’”
Collaborating to create a unique financing proposal
Ragno is a household name in Italy and an historic company. Founded in 1879, the company is known for its roots in underwear and is now a leading player in the world of casual wear. Its collections combine natural materials and sustainable practices1. Owned by the brothers Lincoln, Clemente and Giovanni Germanetti, Germabros wished to take full ownership to shape Ragno according to their vision.
The company operates through three main channels: a wholesale network of approximately 1,700 customers, 36 directly operated stores, and a dedicated e-commerce platform. Together, they generate a current turnover of around €70 million. Strategic priorities focus on business expansion, with the goal of increasing revenue and enhancing profitability. Key initiatives include strengthening the men’s collections to drive growth and margin improvement.
As one might expect with an esteemed Italian brand, Deutsche Bank had to compete against multiple leading Italian banks. But the ability to work collaboratively across many departments of the Private Bank’s BfE proved crucial in finding a tailored funding solution the market could not match. In addition to Origination & Synergies (Luca Cuntrò & Giovanni Sardi), specialists from Investment Management (Matteo Scalfi), Wealth Management (Tiziano Sacchetta), Business Banking (Luca Olmi, Maurizio Fantini & Federico Rubatto), Structured Lending (Duccio Bernini & Diego Chiodaroli), Wealth Planning (Vittorio Fortunato) and Financial Risk Management (Mohan Desai) were involved.
“When we collaborate across the group with our global reach, our ability to provide solutions is difficult to beat,” says Matteo Scalfi, Head of Investment Managers, Italy.
Matteo Scalfi, Head of Investment Managers Italy, and Giovanni Sardi from the Deutsche Bank Corporate Advisory team in Italy.
Leveraging wealth to win the deal
First, Deutsche Bank began a dialogue with Germabros’s advisors and had to work out which teams to involve. “With a family buying shares from other families, you cannot just leverage the company,” says Sardi. “We started working with our structural lending and wealth management teams to leverage the family’s wealth. Our task was to raise the debt, targeting a fairly ambitious leverage ratio relative to EBITDA.”
They came to a solution leveraging three pillars: the company’s numbers, the target assets, and the family’s wealth. “We won the deal by combining leverage of the family’s wealth with traditional corporate and structured lending. It was ultimately a financing transaction, but anchored in wealth management,” explains Sardi.
“The transaction required structuring both the asset and liability sides in a client-centric way,” adds Scalfi. “Integrating the leveraged buyout with the asset strategy allowed us to propose a very competitive framework, enabling the family to own 100 percent of the company immediately.”
Lincoln, Clemente and Giovanni Germanetti (from left to right)
The Bank for Entrepreneurs: ‘rainmakers’ who set the standard
Lincoln Germanetti praised Deutsche Bank for accelerating the acquisition from Tollegno Holding SpA, which was eventually closed in May2. “We immediately felt a strong sense of alignment and closeness with their team: a group of professionals who were cohesive, highly committed, and consistently supportive of our needs, always delivering within tight timelines. They truly acted as 'rainmakers' — people who make things happen. And it wasn’t just one individual, it was the strength of the entire team that drove the deal to completion.”
“Clients with complex needs require a partner who takes a 360-degree perspective,” says Scalfi. “You can't execute this type of transaction without building trust over the years and thinking in terms of reciprocal investment in the relationship. This sets the standard for our business model as the Bank for Entrepreneurs.”
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