Azzurra Capital acquires strategic stake in Lucart Group’s holding company Pasfin S.p.A.

Azzurra Capital has signed a binding agreement to acquire a strategic stake in Pasfin S.p.A., the parent company that fully controls Lucart S.p.A., a leading manufacturer of tissue, airlaid, and MG paper products. This agreement between Azzurra Capital and the Pasquini family marked the private equity fund’s entry into Lucart Group’s holding company, with the goal of supporting the Group’s ambitious growth and profitability targets outlined in its strategic plan for the coming years. This plan emphasized adherence to the social and environmental sustainability principles that have long characterized Lucart’s operations. The Italian paper-making group is recognized for its sustainability efforts, including publishing an annual sustainability report since 2004 and earning a platinum rating from Ecovadis in 2023 and 2024, placing it among the top 1% of companies worldwide for ESG performance.

Founded in 1953 by the Pasquini family, Lucart S.p.A. operates across three business areas: Away from Home, Consumer, and Business to Business. The company markets well-known brands such as Tenderly, Tutto, Grazie EcoNatural, and Smile in the Consumer market, and Lucart Professional, Fato, and Velo in the Away from Home market. Lucart’s production capacity reaches 400,000 tonnes of paper annually, and the company employs over 1,700 people across 10 production plants located in Italy, France, Hungary, Spain, and the UK. Lucart also operates two logistics hubs and a sales office in Germany. The company closed 2023 with a turnover of €765 million, a 6.7% increase from 2022, and an EBITDA of over €130 million. Lucart’s recently approved 2024 half-yearly report also reflects strong results, reaffirming its leadership in the Italian and European Away from Home sector, particularly in recycled tissue paper production and brand marketing.

Stefano Marsaglia, founder and CEO of Azzurra Capital, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership, stating: “We are extremely honored to have become a partner of the Pasquini family. In recent months, we have developed an excellent relationship with the family and fully share the objectives and strategies to create further value and growth for the Group. The investment in Lucart perfectly aligns with our strategy of investing in family-owned companies, managed by high-quality entrepreneurs, who are leaders in their field, with a long history of success and attractive growth prospects. The Group is distinguished by its focus on recycled material at the product and packaging level and has unique know-how in the recovery of pulp fibers from Tetra Pak® beverage cartons. In addition to injecting capital, we will provide the Group with our long-standing experience in capital markets and M&A, as well as our extensive network of international contacts. We are sure that ours will be a successful partnership”.

Massimo Pasquini, CEO of Lucart S.p.A., also welcomed the partnership, saying: “We are very happy to be able to count on Azzurra Capital’s participation in the Lucart Group. With Azzura Capital, we developed a complete harmony of business outlooks and on the company’s potentials and mode of growth. The Lucart Group’s excellent results allow us to look to the future with great optimism, and we are confident that this operation will be strategic in achieving even more ambitious growth and profitability targets, relying on the know-how we have acquired in over 70 years of history, our ability to innovate in the production of high-quality ecological tissue papers, and our leadership position in the European Away From Home tissue market. The Pasquini family is actively involved in the operational management with the ambition to continue to improve this growth path by focusing on a project consistent with the Group’s values and objectives”.