La Prensa Etichette is an Italian leader in the printing and finishing of labels for mineral waters and consumer food products for major agri-food industrial clients in each market segment.

Since its creation by the Delfino family in 1974, La Prensa has maintained constant attention to research and technological innovation, investing significantly in its offset and flexographic printing lines to be able to offer labels in paper, plastic, sleeve and IML.

Thanks to recent investments in its production capabilities, La Prensa ensures a high level of service, flexibility and a reduction in production times whist maintaining quality.

With its 4 production facilities, covering a surface area of over 10 000m², and 130 employees, La Prensa has sales of roughly 40 million euros and produces more than 7 000 tons of paper labels and 1 500 tons of plastic labels each year.

In this transaction, Unigrains Italia is joined by BNP Paribas BNL Equity Investments and Alexa Invest. Supported by its new shareholders, the company will examine growth opportunities – particularly external growth opportunities – in view of consolidating a dynamic but still fragmented market, by leveraging its unique supply chain expertise, its commercial network, and its range of products.

As part of this operation, illimity Bank S.p.A. acted as sole financier of the acquisition through its Corporate Banking Division, the bank's business area dedicated to businesses.

To achieve its objectives, La Prensa intends to strengthen its teams with technical-commercial profiles capable of bringing new skills in service of the development project.

Emanuele Delfino, President of La Prensa Group, declared: “Through this operation, we are taking an ambitious step with the support of an agri-food specialized investor that can assist us in our growth, both organic and external.”

Francesco Orazi, CEO of Unigrains Italia, declared: “We have been following packaging and labels for some time and have previously completed successful investments in the sector. This activity is an important part of the agri-food industry supply chain, with strong potential. We support La Prensa both at the commercial level, notably though our network and contacts, as well as in the identification and realization of potential acquisitions.”

Vittorio Ogliengo, Chairman CIB Italy of BNP Paribas and President of BNP Paribas BNL Equity Investments, declared: “I am delighted that BNP Paribas BNL Equity Investments is supporting the Delfino family and Unigrains Italia to promote the development of La Prensa, a leader in the printing and finishing of labels for food products. This experience of the BNP Paribas Groupe in the packaging sector allows us to appreciate the quality of the project and we will endeavor to bring our added value in service of the company’s growth.”

Carmelo Melfi, Founder of Gruppo Alexa, declared: "La Prensa represents the second operation of Gruppo Alexa just a few months after the first and we are happy to support the Delfino family, Unigrains Italia and BNP Paribas BNL Equity Investments in the ambitious growth path that La Prensa intends to pursue in the coming years. We believe that the packaging and labels sector has high development potential and we are confident that La Prensa's growth path can be accelerated by targeted acquisition operations of other industrial companies.”

Enrico Fagioli, Head of Corporate Banking di illimity, declared: " We are pleased to play an important supporting role in an operation with high potential. illimity is proud to once again support Unigrains Italia in the development of Italian excellence in the food supply chain, a strategic sector for the country and experiencing strong growth.”