M&A alert. Oresa and entrepreneur Cristian Amza take over La Fantana from Innova Capital

Swedish private equity fund Oresa has returned as shareholder of water solutions provider La Fantana.

The fund has teamed up with entrepreneur Cristian Amza, the founder and CEO of La Fantana, and bought all the shares in the company from Polish private equity fund Innova Capital.

“La Fantana 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 Fantana and the management team I’ve been leading,” said Amza in a statement.

Cornel Marian, the managing director of Oresa, explained that the fund has backed La Fantana from the start-up stage and in its first seven years of 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 Fantana became a bigger and more solid player in watercoolers and developed successfully the new coffee solutions business, an area where we see interesting opportunities,” said Marian.

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Sebastian Teter, the managing director of Innova Capital, added that since the fund bought its stake in La Fantana, back in 2007, the Ebitda of the company has almost quadrupled.

La Fantana has a market share of 70 percent among bottlers and distributors of spring water for offices in Romania. In Serbia, it holds more than half of the market.

Last year, the group had revenues of over EUR 42 million and more than 50,000 customers.

The company is also supplying coffee starting 2014, and currently has 10,000 coffee machines installed.

Law firm David and Baias and professional services firm PwC advised Oresa on the acquisitiom.

Innova was assisted by law firm Clifford Chance Badea. Cristian Amza opted for the law firm Popovici Nitu Stoica & Asociatii.

Ovidiu Posirca