Mossi Ghisolfi weighs sale of Italian biofuel business
MILAN (Reuters) — Italian bioplastics multinational Mossi Ghisolfi is considering selling its Italian business in the biofuels sector as part of a restructuring deal, a source close to the matter said.
The company, Italy's second-biggest chemicals business behind that of oil group Eni, has hired Mediobanca to run the process, the source said.
Mossi Ghisolfi (M&G), founded by the Ghisolfi family in 1953, is famous for introducing in Italy and across Europe PET, a plastic used for soft drink bottles like those of Coca Cola and Pepsi.
In 2013, it considered listing its M&G Chemicals unit in Hong Kong but then pulled plans as market conditions worsened.
The unexpected death of former managing director Guido Ghisolfi in 2015 and, more recently, big cost overruns at its Corpus Christi PET plant in the United States have hit business.
Last year M&G Finanziaria, the holding owned by the Ghisolfi family, saw its operating profit fall 90% to 6.9 MM euros on revenues of 1.7 B euros. It reported an overall net loss of 92 MM euros.
In Italy, M&G Finanziaria controls Beta Renewables—the first plant in the world to produce second-generation ethanol.
"A series of private equity and industrial players have expressed an interest," the source said, but added no decision to sell had yet been made.
Rothschild is handling the group's restructuring process in the United States, the source added.
M&G declined to comment.
Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Silvia Aloisi and Mark Potter
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