FIERA MILANO AND FIERE DI PARMA SIGN A NON-BINDING TERM-SHEET FOR A PARTNERSHIP TO CREATE A COMMON EUROPEAN EXHIBITION PLATFORM IN THE AGRO-FOOD SECTOR
13/10/2022
Milan, 13 October 2022 - The Board of Directors of Fiera Milano S.p.A. (“Fiera Milano” and/ or the “Company”), leader in Italy and one of the main integrated operators in the world in the exhibition and congress industry, following the press release of January 25, 2022, and May 20, 2022, announces that it has signed non-binding term-sheets (the “Agreements”) with the private shareholders of Fiere di Parma S.p.A. (“Fiere di Parma") for a partnership to create a common European exhibition platform in the agro-food sector (the “Transaction”).
It should be noted that the Transaction would be realized through a capital increase of Fiere di Parma reserved for Fiera Milano against the transfer of the Fiera Milano exhibition "Tuttofood", a primary event in the agri-food sector organized in Milan, Rho district.
The Parties have defined that, upon completion of the Transaction, Fiera Milano would initially hold a minority stake of the share capital of Fiere di Parma.
It should be also noted that, through the aforementioned Transaction, the Parties set themselves the goal of creating a new multipolar exhibition platform consisting of "Cibus Parma", an iconic event for Made in Italy food and its territories and "Tuttofood powered by Cibus" in Milan where it will be able to welcome an international exhibition audience and thus compete with similar European events. Thanks to the synergies between Fiera Milano, Fiere di Parma and Federalimentare, the two events will be able to specialize their positioning by offering strategic and permanent support to Made in Italy agro-food and, in general, to the Italian system.
The Agreements foresee the participation of Fiera Milano in the governance of Fiere di Parma by supporting private shareholders - i.e. Crédit Agricole Italia S.p.A and Unione Parmense degli Industriali - and public shareholders - i.e. Municipality and Province of Parma, Chamber of Commerce of Parma and Emilia-Romagna Region - in enhancing the execution of the industrial plan of Cibus Parma and Tuttofood. The Agreements also define the provision of service agreements between Fiera Milano and Fiere di Parma in relation to "Tuttofood powered by Cibus", to be held always at the Rho exhibition center managed by Fiera Milano.
Fiera Milano is the leader in Italy and one of the main integrated operators in the world in the exhibition and congress industry by managing the first exhibition center in Italy, in 2021 it generated revenues of Euro 129.8 million, an EBITDA of Euro 77.2 million and a positive net cash of Euro 47.4 million. Fiere di Parma is a leading operator in the Italian exhibition market, managing the Parma exhibition center, in 2021 it generated revenues of Euro 32.4 million, an EBITDA of Euro 10.6 million and a net financial position of Euro 2.1 million.
In light of the non-binding nature of the Agreements, additional information will be disclosed to the market at the time of their determination, when the parties have concluded further negotiations and the necessary conditions have been met.