By Alvise Armellini and Alberto Chiumento
ROME (Reuters) – Bialetti, inventor of the octagonal moka coffee pot hailed as an icon of Italian industrial design, has reached a deal with NUO Capital which will see the business sold and delisted, the two companies said on Wednesday.
NUO Capital, registered in Luxembourg, is an investment vehicle controlled by the Pao Chengs, one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families.
Bialetti, whose stove top coffee pot first introduced in 1933 is on display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), has struggled in recent years with bad investments and competition from capsule coffee makers.
It launched an expansion strategy based on the opening of stores in malls and city centres that was wrongfooted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and branched out unsuccessfully into kitchen utensils. In 2024, it posted a 1.1 million euro ($1.25 million) loss and closed the year with adjusted net financial debts of 81.9 million euros.
Under the deal, NUO Capital will buy 78.6% of Bialetti’s shares from its current main investors for 53 million euros, with a close expected by the end of June. A tender for the remaining shares will then be launched at a price no less than 0.467 euros each.
The offer represents a significant premium to Bialetti’s market value. On Tuesday, its shares closed in Milan at 0.279 euros. On Wednesday they failed to start trading and were indicated up 50%.
The buyout is subject to regulatory approval, including scrutiny under “golden powers” regulations that allow the Italian government to block or set conditions for corporate takeovers.
The deal includes the refinancing of Bialetti’s debts, through a junior loan of up to 30 million euros from Illimity and AMCO and a senior loan of up to 45 million euros from Banco BPM, BPER Banca and Banca Ifis.
NUO Capital also plans an equity contribution of at least 49.5 million euros, the joint statement said, adding that CEO Egidio Cozzi would remain in charge of Bialetti after the change of ownership.
The moka pot’s name derives from Yemen’s Mokha, an important city for coffee commerce between the 16th and the 19th century.
($1 = 0.8794 euros)
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Alberto Chiumento, editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
