Success Stories

The challenge is replicating them even though each case is unique

Surfaces Technological Abrasives

Founded in 1986 Surfaces was a small player specialized in the production of abrasive products with resinoid magnesium. In a few years the company became the global leading supplier of abrasive tools and consumables that intervene in the manufacturing process of high-end materials: Surfaces develops, manufactures and sells abrasive tools and other consumables used to smoothen, cut and polish high-end ceramic, engineered stone, glass.

In 2014 Xenon met for the first time with the two original groups of founders and in the same year convinced them to join a strategic project with a strong focus on external growth, without exploiting financial leverage.

The first step for the creation of this new group was the whole acquisition of ADI, based in Vicenza and leader in the production of abrasive tools for stone, glass and ceramic tiles; the second add-on was RBM, specialized in the production of tools for glass treatment. In 2018 NoCoat and AS tools, the former active in production of chemical treatments, the former in tools to lay down them, became part of the group. In 2019 two additional targets were acquired: International Chips, leader in ceramic treatment and metal finishing and then the Liguria based Luna Abrasivi, a diamond cutting tools producer specialized in finishing treatments, too.

Xenon supported the drive for growth abroad trough the estabilishment of subsidiaries in three different continents.

In summary, turnover rose from € 14 mln € to over € 100 m, the number of production plants climbed from 2 to 10, the number of subsidiaries from 1 to 10, the number of FTEs increased from 55 to 350. The group now serves customers in more than 70 countries.
The group chairman is still one of the founders and some of the other founders are currently part of the top management team led by an external manager who was appointed as CEO.

Xenon guided the company through the transition path from a family business to a managerialized complex group and, thanks to a well structured integration plan, could foster the creation of a global champion. Surfaces Technological Abrasives is now the main partner for both equipment manufacturers and tile production companies.

In two steps Xenon progressively sold its majority stake, the last one in 2020 allowing the entry of two large international Private Equity funds.

Gimatic

Founded in 1985 in Brescia (Italy), Gimatic is a leading global manufacturer of pneumatic and electric grippers for industrial automation. The company invests every year more than 10% of its annual turnover in R&D, achieving so far more than 170 patents and selling with its own brand over 2 million components annually to automotive, pharma and consumer goods end users.

Xenon met one of the founders in 2011 and managed to achieve a corporate reorganisation in 2013 laying down the foundations for a subsequent growth phase. In a few years Xenon supported the international expansion through the estabilishment of 15 foreign subsidiaries, starting a partnership with the best sales agents of local distributors so to become able to provide customers with problem solving capabilites. Customers, mostly large OEMs, despite their internal engineering capabilites, were in fact looking for tailor made solutions for their handling needs with a short delivery time. Xenon rationalised R&D activities, previoulsy disconnected from market needs, introducing a rigorous cost benefit approach, and negotiated some global supply contracts with the largest tier 1 automotive customers.

During Xenon tenure the group acquired a specialist component manufacturer and invested in the launch of new mechatronics applications. In a few years thanks to the new go to market approach turnover more than doubled, the workforce quadrupled but EBITDA margins remained above the 30% excellence threshold.

In two steps Xenon reduced its majority stake and eventually sold its residual participation to a US based industrial group with more than 150 years of history and a hard core of shareholders represented by the founding family. The group cooperated with the Gimatic founder and Chairman in the subsequent years to complete the transition path to a fully managerialized company, mantaining top and middle management and the historical operating approach.

Impresoft

The Impresoft project originated from the meeting with two historical entrepreneurs in the ICT space, who in 2018 had decided to re-enter the market creating a small player devoted to the corporate market (clients with revenues lower than € 300 million with up to 500 users).
The project was quickly redefined with far greater ambitions targeting as well companies active in the digital transformation and customer engagement business, and adding other proprietary products to the traditional offer of ERP solutions.

In less than 2 years 6 complementary specialists were acquired, with the sellers accepting to reinvest in a single holding and to create a unique client interface (so to disintermediate technologies and focus on processes) for an integrated and scalable portfolio of solutions.
The build-up occurred in a historical period characterized by a higher complexity – exacerbated by the pandemic – in human resource management and by the necessity of more sophisticated organizational models in the recruitment, training, motivation and retention of the professionals needed for product development and the delivery of consultancies to clients.
The coherence of the actions put in place allowed to quickly integrate different companies and to manage the transition from 100 to 700 FTE, from € 10 million to € 88 million sales, from 20 to 40% recurring revenues laying down the foundations for a true group culture.

The wide adoption of long term incentive plans for middle management, the creation of a training academy and the progressive managerialization of internal processess were instrumental in containing staff turnover well below industry average and to brilliantly overcome the slowdown in new account acquisition caused by the pandemic.
The group soon became well recognized thanks to E2E offering and capabilities to serve clients across several industries and represented a one-stop digital accelerator for corporates.

In late 2021 Xenon sold its majority stake to a large domestic financial investor promoting its entry beside the wide group of entrepreneurs to support a new phase of build-up.

Relife

Relife finds its roots in Benfante S.r.l., a company founded in the fifties in Genova to collect and process waste paper. In the nineties the company started a diversification to other materials, like plastics, wood and metal. In 2014 Xenon acquired a minority stake alongside the heirs of the founder and starting a build-up process in a fragmented market

In a few years 7 complementary businesses were acquired and a new sorting plant in Tortona was erected. In 2018, thanks to the combination with a paper mill in Bosco Marengo Benfante became ReLife Group, the Italian leader in waste paper. In 2019 a J-V was finalised with a large multi-utility based in Tuscan and in the same year a new plant to produce secondary derived fuel from non recyclable waste was inaugurated with a 140,000 ton capacity so to achieve a fully circular economy business model.

Eventually in 2021 ReLife extended its value chain buying a recycled plastic bag specialist and a producer of carton board packaging.

Xenon action allowed to convey to clients a one stop shop concept, the value proposition extension to finished products and to achieve an actual integration of the different entities.

In a nutshell from 2014 until 2021 sales grew from € 15 mln to € 250 mln and employees from 30 to 650: now the Group boasts 35 processing plants in more than 20 sites.

Xenon managed to keep a precious balance between the progressive managerialization requirements on one side and the preservation of the founding family entrepreneurial spirit on the other.

In 2021 Xenon sold a large portion of its majority stake to a large infrastructure fund.