Case Studies

Talgo has become a leading and global player in the passenger rail market

Trilantic Europe has been actively involved in a number of initiatives that supported value creation for Talgo. One of the main avenues of value creation was Talgo’s international expansion which was achieved by supporting the company’s commercial efforts with a stronger focus on projects such as Kazakshtan and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, by supporting Talgo in the development of new product offerings, the Company was able to expand its addressable markets in the VHS and regional commuter train segments. The various value creation initiatives allowed Talgo to consolidate its role as a leading player with global reach, best-in-class technology and unparalleled competitiveness, as demonstrated by numerous project awards.

Exit

The company was listed on the Spanish stock exchange on the 7th of May 2015. As a result of the IPO, Trilantic Europe partially divested its stake.

From its reference shareholder position, Trilantic Europe continues to actively support Talgo on all operating, commercial and financial fronts.

Positioned to benefit from global automotive megatrends: e-Mobility and Autonomous Driving

Today, Prettl SWH is well positioned to significantly benefit from relevant global automotive megatrends such as e-Mobility and Autonomous driving. With regards to e-Mobility the Company is relying on a dedicated e-Mobility R&D centre and has specialty cables and wire harnesses for the electric powertrain in its product portfolio. With regards to autonomous driving, the Company produces a number of cable solutions which connect the various sensors needed by an autonomous car to sense its environment.

Exit

Trilantic Europe exited its investment in July 2023 to leading electronics manufacturer and technological solutions provider, FIT Hon Teng Limited.

A successful story of growth and diversification exploiting opportunities in a highly regulated market

From 2014 onwards, guided by a new CEO with extensive sector experience, Gamenet implemented a new strategy based on the following pillars: (i) expansion into directly-owned gaming halls, both with medium and large formats; (ii) entry into the direct AWP management segments (“street operations”); (iii) increased presence in the betting business with the transformational acquisitions of the Italian operations of Intralot and of Goldbet.

The Intralot and Goldbet transactions were executed with the support of the Trilantic Europe team, which provided significant M&A expertise and led the negotiations with the sellers.

Since Trilantic Europe’s entry, the company has been able to grow its EBITDA 10+ fold from €14mn in 2010 to €158mn (Jun-19 LTM Pro Forma - 33% CAGR). Such impressive growth has been achieved through organic growth and M&A, and thanks to a complete organizational turnaround, with the introduction of new internal functions, control procedures and monitoring tools. Under Trilantic Europe ownership, the number of employees grew from 73 to 726 in 2019. Gamenet evolved from a pure AWP concessionaire into becoming the third largest Italian gaming operator, with a well balanced mix of products and led by a strong management team.

Effective access to capital markets

The complete transformation achieved by the company since 2010 granted access to capital markets both from the equity and the debt side.

In 2013 the company issued its first €200mn High Yield bond, whose proceeds were partly distributed to shareholders. In 2016 Gamenet successfully refinanced its debt lowering the interest rate from 7.25% to 6.00%.

In December 2017, the Company was listed on Italian Stock Exchange and Trilantic Europe reduced its participation to 45% at €7.5 per Gamenet share: In April 2018, Gamenet issued a €225 million bond at a 3.75% spread over 3-month EURIBOR to refinance the 6.00% bond issued in 2016 and in October 2018 Gamenet issued another €225 million bond a 5.125% spread over 3-month EURIBOR to finance Goldbet acquisition.

During the course of 2019, Trilantic Europe executed (i) an accelerated book-build offering of 4.5 million of Gamenet shares, (ii) a sale of 470,162 shares needed to reduce its participation in Gamenet below 30% (mandatory takeover offer threshold), (iii) sale of 49.9% of its residual participation in the Company to the Chiarva family and finally (iv) full exit via a sale to a vehicle managed by Apollo Global Management. The final agreed price was €13.0 per Gamenet share, which represented a 19% premium to 30th September 2019 closing share price and a 73% premium over the IPO price

Exit

The company was listed on the Italian stock exchange on the 6 December 2017. During the course of 2019, Trilantic Europe sold the rest of its participation via a number of transactions, completing the full exit in November 2019 with a sale to a vehicle managed by Apollo Global Management, Inc.

Transforming a regional company into an industry-wide best-in-class player

From its minority position, Trilantic Europe acted as catalyst in the transformation of Euskaltel. A comprehensive transformational plan was successfully executed, improving Euskaltel’s management functions, operations and financial performance.

Euskaltel went through a thorough review of its internal organisation and operations, leading to the internalisation of high value added functions, the outsourcing of non-strategic activities, an optimisation of the sales channel mix and post-sale functions, and the refocus of network deployment.

In addition to the operational improvements, several growth initiatives focused on a customer centric strategy were successfully implemented. The later resulted in an increased penetration in Pay TV from 17% in 2012 to 45% in 2014 as well as a higher percentage of fixed customers with mobile services to 49% in 2014 from 30% in 2012.

On the financial side, Trilantic Europe’s helped bringing margins and cash conversion ratios to best-in-class levels across the industry.

Exit

On the 1 July 2015, Euskaltel was listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange, with strong demand from high-quality investors.

Enhancing management practices

During its tenure, Trilantic Europe strengthened management by replacing 80% the incumbent management team and successfully created a single company with a central reporting process and new corporate identity dedicated to seafood. Our efforts delivered significant cost savings following the implementation of a purchasing audit, revamp of logistics processes, implementation of new ERP and restructuring of the SKU portfolio, shredding loss making volumes.

Focus on product innovation and sustainability

Product innovation was at the core of our investment strategy and included the launch of “no drain” product in February 2009 a rare innovation in an otherwise “sleepy” canned seafood category.

Following its investment in MW Brands, Trilantic Europe fostered certain company initiatives on environmental and supply chain sustainability. MW Brands became a founding member of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) and worked with Greenpeace to develop and implement sustainable tuna fishing methods, eliminating bycatches and restricting the fishing of non- endangered tuna species. MW Brands also engaged a leading independent consulting firm as its scientific research advisor. The company implemented strict fishing measures, including a ban on the processing of illegally caught tuna.

Exit

The company was sold to Thai Union, one of the largest seafood companies in the world, in October 2010.