Church-owned gate maker FAAC considering listing in Milan – sources

MILAN (Reuters) -FAAC, a Catholic Church-owned maker of automatic gates and doors, is thinking of listing on the Milan stock exchange, three sources said on Monday, in what could be one of Italy’s biggest initial public offerings in the last two years.

One of the three sources, all of whom are close to the matter, said the Bologna-based group is expected to pick banks for the IPO in the next few weeks and the process is still at a preliminary stage. Another said the deal is still uncertain.

FAAC declined to comment.

The company is owned by the Archdiocese of Bologna, after the owner and founder’s son, Michelangelo Manini, died in 2012 and bequeathed a majority stake to the Church. In 2015 the Archdiocese bought out a minority stake from French Group Somfy to take full control and set up a trust.

So far this year only biotech group Philogen has listed its shares on the main market in Milan, though the IPO of high-tech group Seco is currently underway.

In 2019 FAAC reported revenues of 461 million euros ($556.80 million) and a core profit of 98 million euros, according to the latest data available from the Italian chamber of commerce.

In the last few years the company has completed a string of acquisitions including the purchase in June of part of automatic door maker Agta Record Group from Sweden’s Assa Abloy for 100 million euros.

In December it said it had agreed to acquire Tel Aviv-based TIBA group, which supplies systems for managing parking sites, for $135 million, reaching consolidated revenues of over 620 million euros and over 3,400 employees globally.

($1 = 0.8280 euros)