Charterhouse Capital Partners to acquire MEC3

November 14, 2016

Funds advised by Charterhouse Capital Partners (“Charterhouse”) have reached an agreement to acquire MEC3 (“the Company”), Italy’s largest manufacturer and supplier of ice-cream ingredients, from global private equity firm The Riverside Company (“Riverside”).

Founded in 1984 and based in Rimini, MEC3 exports high-quality artisan gelato and pastry ingredients to more than 130 countries around the world. The Company produces over 820 different products, ranging from base flavour mixes, to complete kits and fillings/toppings, across its four main business lines: gelato, frozen yogurt, pastries and coffee shop items.

The Company has its headquarters in Italy and nine subsidiaries in Germany, Czech Republic, the USA, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China and Korea.

Giuseppe Prestia, a Partner at Charterhouse, said: “We are delighted to partner with MEC3. The company has enjoyed strong growth over many years, something that we expect to continue, in particular, due to increasing demand for high-quality, lighter and tasty alternatives to regular ice-cream. With Charterhouse’s assistance we believe there is scope to build on MEC3’s success to date to create a best-in-class global ingredients manufacturer and supplier.”

Karsten Langer, Partner at Riverside said: “MEC3 is a wonderful business that we have worked intensively with for the past three years. We are thrilled with what has been achieved and believe the business is poised for continued success. We wish the management team and Charterhouse success with MEC3's further international growth.”

Claudio Riva, CEO at MEC3, said: “We would like to thank The Riverside Company for their support and now look forward to working with Charterhouse in the next stage of our development. Charterhouse’s proven experience in Italy and track record of building successful global businesses will be important as we work to take MEC3 to the next level.”