H.I.G. Capital Provides Funding to Invest in Italian Mid-Sized Enterprises Through a Corporate Credit Recovery Initiative Managed by IDeA Capital Funds

LONDON – May 26, 2015 – Idea CCR (Corporate Credit Recovery), a platform managed by IDeA Capital Funds SGR (“IDeA”) developed with support and funding from the anchor investor Bayside Capital (“H.I.G. Bayside”), an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, will invest in Italian mid-sized enterprises in distressed situations aiming to help them restructure and turnaround, and consequently to help banks maximize the recovery of their original loans.

Idea CCR is currently in discussions with a number of leading Italian banks which are expected to contribute to Idea CCR a portfolio of medium and long term corporate loans. Currently, such portfolio is expected to have a nominal value of around €250m at closing, but over 12 months further loans could be contributed up to a total amount of €500m. In exchange for such contributions, the respective banks will receive Notes issued by Idea CCR. Idea CCR is also expected to raise funding from H.I.G. Bayside and other investors up to 20% of the nominal value of the contributed portfolio, which will be made available to Idea CCR in order to support the financial and operational restructuring of the distressed debtor companies.

The operating governance of the companies is expected to be controlled by Idea CCR through restructuring agreements, and will be managed by an experienced team led by Francesco Gori, former CEO of Pirelli Tyre and Managing Director of Pirelli & C. and by Vincenzo Manganelli for the financial restructuring process.

Roberto Saviane, Chairman of IDeA Capital Funds, noted: “IDeA Capital Funds will contribute the new venture with the knowledge and contacts in the financial and industrial Italian sector and will support the relaunch of the portfolio companies with its management and financial skills”.

Duncan Priston, Managing Director at Bayside Capital in London, commented: “We are extremely pleased to announce this important collaboration with IDeA. We look forward to working together and leveraging our collective skills to identify and invest in attractive mid-market Italian companies”.

Raffaele Legnani, Managing Director and head of the activities of H.I.G. Capital in Italy, added: “we are happy to join IDeA in the development of this platform which can be a powerful tool for helping Italian mid-sized companies with our financial resources, turnaround expertise and international business contacts”.

About IDeA Capital Funds
IDeA Capital Funds SGR is the leading firm in Italy for private equity investments, through both its single-manager and multi-manager investment programs providing investors with domestic and international exposure respectively, with over €2.1 billion of assets under management and 30 professionals.

IDeA Capital Funds serves more than 100 Limited Partners including both sophisticated institutional investors and successful entrepreneurs that can constantly track their investments through a detailed reporting system and thanks to direct access to the investment teams.

About H.I.G. Capital and Bayside Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with more than $17 billion of capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.hig.com.

Bayside Capital, an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, is a credit oriented investment firm with over $7 billion under management. Bayside is focused on providing capital solutions to address complex situations within short timeframes.  Through improved access to capital or facilitating balance sheet realignments, Bayside can help support future strategies and expansion plans.  Bayside has the ability to provide capital through a broad range of securities including asset-based and cash flow senior and subordinated debt, equity, debtor-in-possession facilities, and special situation loans.  Bayside has the experience and resources to help companies quickly resume growth initiatives and improve their strategic position.  For more information, please refer to the Bayside Capital website at www.bayside.com

* Based on total capital commitments to funds managed by H.I.G. Capital and its affiliates.