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Italian speciality papermaker Favini is back on track, and making surprising progress
There has been a lot of activity going on behind the scenes at Favini, the Italian speciality papermaker. The company has been through something of a rollercoaster ride over the last few years but, with new energy, both in the shape of the shaking off its previously owned loss making Dutch mills, as well as an injection of capital, the company is approaching the challenging market with renewed vigor, f spoke to Andrea Nappa at Pulp Week held in the UK recently.
PPI: Can you tell us a something about the recent history at Favini and how the company will look going forward?
Nappa: From January of this year, the old Favini was put into liquidation after the bankruptcy of the Dutch mills. But before that, the old Favini Group, the Italian part of the operation, had always performed well, but the Dutch business continued to lose money, despite continued attempts at restructuring. Finally the Favini family realized that they could no longer sustain the business and let the Dutch mills go into bankruptcy. This resulted in no other option than the whole company being put into liquidation, according to Italian law.
In the liquidation process, the liquidator of the company formed an agreement with Orlando Italy, a private equity house, which has committed to buy the Italian business of Favini, including the Rossano and Crusinallo mills, as well as the converting business, Cartotecnica. Through this acquisition, every single employee of the old Favini was transferred to the new company which has been named as Favini SRL. We have also entered into agreements and contracts with customers and suppliers, so the business has been properly transferred to a completely new vehicle.
You have been CEO since the beginning of May this year, how do you propose to take the new Favini forward in such a competitive climate?
Well, since May, the management team, which remains exactly the same as it was on the Italian side of the business, has formed a three year plan in order to accelerate the process of re-building Favini. As the new CEO, I bring an investment strategy that will concentrate on a program to create value...