Press Reviews

Oresa and entrepreneur Cristian Amza take over control of La Fântâna from Innova Capital

Nine O’Clock | 15 April 2016

Oresa and entrepreneur Cristian Amza take over control of La Fântâna from Innova Capital

On 14th April, Oresa together with founder Mr. Cristian Amza, signed the agreement for the acquisition of all shares held by the funds managed by Innova Capital in La Fantana Group. Completion of the transaction is subject to the customary approvals, and the price of the transaction has not been disclosed.

La Fântâna is a leading provider of home and office water solutions in South-Eastern Europe (SEE) and the second largest provider of water solutions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). In 2015 the La Fântâna Group posted consolidated revenues of over EUR 42 million and served more than 50 thousand customers.

The Group led by Cristian Amza has effectively shaped the Romanian and Serbian water solution markets and currently operates an integrated business with a nationwide coverage in both Romania and Serbia, spanning the entire chain from water source to water production/bottling facilities and further to the Group’s own water and coffee distribution, and logistics for delivery to customer premises.

“La Fântâna has been growing considerably in the past 17 years with Innova Capital and Oresa aside. We have shared the same vision in a team that worked every time. I thank the investors for believing in La Fântâna and the management team I’ve been leading. Personally, I am extremely happy to re-join Oresa as partners. We are moving forward together with the objective to consolidate the growth and the performance of La Fântâna and further develop a business of services that count for clients, employees, shareholders and the industry” – stated Cristian Amza, CEO and founder La Fântâna Group.

“It is a tremendous opportunity to team up again with Cristian Amza and invest in La Fântâna. We have been part of the start-up and first seven years of the company development. We were so impressed with its evolution and followed it so closely that one could say we have never left but only took a short break. La Fântâna became a bigger and more solid player in watercoolers and developed successfully the new coffee solutions business, an area where we see interesting opportunities. Our ambition is to continue to grow the business and demonstrate how the right equity investor and an outstanding entrepreneur can partner to build great businesses” – says Cornel Marian, Managing Director of Oresa.

“We are very satisfied, with what we managed to achieve together with the Management of La Fântâna during our holding period. Since the entry in 2007 the Company almost quadrupled EBITDA profit, and developed strong market position in new segments like office coffee and POU-filters. We are confident that this track-record will be continued by the

Management, under new ownership structure” – added Sebastian Teter, Managing Director of Innova Capital.

Oresa was supported in the transaction by DAVID and BAIAS S.C.A., PWC. Innova was supported by Clifford Chance Badea and Cristian Amza by POPOVICI NIŢU STOICA & ASOCIAŢII.

Innova Capital is a leading Central European private equity fund investing in the medium-sized enterprise segment. Since its launch in 1994, Innova Capital has invested more than EUR 650 million in 45 businesses operating in 10 countries in the region. In 2010, Innova Capital won the CEE Fund of the Year Award presented by Unquote magazine for its fifth fund Innova/5.

The La Fântâna Group is the leading bottler and distributor of spring water for offices in Romania and Serbia. The company supplies a network of more than 100,000 bottled water-coolers as well as tap-fed POU units installed across both countries. It holds market shares estimated at 70% in Romania and above 50% in Serbia. From 2014 LaF is also the largest Office coffee supplier in Romania, with 10,000 coffee machines installed.

ORESA is family-owned equity Investment Company with Swedish roots, with an entrepreneurial, active ownership approach. ORESA’s core market is Romania, where it has invested more than EUR 100m in equity since 1997. ORESA’s investment strategy is to develop, together with strong entrepreneurs and management teams, market leading companies in favorite sectors such as business services, financial services, construction materials, FMCG or retail & distribution. The company’s current portfolio consists of five companies that are market leaders in their sectors: FabryoAtlas Paints, Somaco, RTC, Romanian Business Consult and Kiwi Finance.