1. 17/01/2014 Reitek seeks to clinch Italian acquisition by 2014, CEO says
Proprietary Intelligence
Story  M&A planned to increase footprint abroad
 Forecasts 50%-100% turnover increase within three years
 Vivocha spinoff to kick off series B round
Reitek, a private Italian customer management software company, aims to
acquire an Italian peer with operations in Brazil by the end of 2014, CEO
and co-founder Daniele Barki said.
The company plans to expand its product and customer portfolio in Italy
and enter Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Turkey via bolt-on acquisitions of
targets generating annual revenues between EUR 2.5m and EUR 5m. Such
acquisitions would be paid for with its own resources.
If Reitek were to consider larger acquisitions, it could sell a stake to private
equity firms, but such opportunities have not yet arrived, Barki said.
In 2013, Reitek strengthened its balance sheet to grow through organic
growth and M&A. It sold a 10% stake to Roberto Pellegrini, former sales
and business division manager for Italian mobile operator Tim, and a 35%
stake to Costanza Amodeo. Sale values were not disclosed.
Since 2010, turnover hovered around the EUR 10m mark. EBITDA margin
is 10%, down from pre-2008 crisis levels of 16%-18%. It has 80 employees,
Barki said.
Reitek expects to post revenues of EUR 11m in 2014 excluding potential
M&A operations. According to its three-year plan, it forecasts reaching
revenues of EUR 15m-EUR 20m, including an acquisition.
Amodeo previously served as marketing manager for Engineering
Ingegneria Informatica [ENG.MI] and is the daughter of its co-founder,
Rosario Amodeo. Last June, Rosario Amodeo sold a 29.9% stake to One
Equity Partners, the merchant banking arm of JPMorgan Chase, for EUR
116.6m. The Amodeo family continues to retain a 2% stake in ENG,
according to Mergermarket’s database.
Reitek welcomes proposals from advisers and potential targets, Barki said.
The company uses PwC as its accountant. It is looking to widen its cloud
services portfolio, which is the company’s main growth driver, already
accounting for 40% of its annual revenues.
Vivocha to kick off series B fundraising round
Meanwhile, Vivocha, an Italy-based online customer interactions platform
in which Reitek holds a 52% stake, is planning to kick off a series B round

2. within months, Barki said.
The company expects to raise between EUR 3m and EUR 5m through a
minority stake sale. Funding is expected to come from existing and external
investors, but a definitive plan has yet to be drawn.
Alongside Reitek, other shareholders include the VC firms Vertis Venture
(18%) and Principia II (12%), as well as CEO Gianluca Ferranti (9%) and
CTO Federico Pinna (9%). Reitek sold down its 100% ownership of
Vivocha in 2012.
Barki said Vivocha was valued at EUR 5m when the company sold a 30%
stake to Vertis Venture and Principia II for EUR 1.5m in 2012.
The company has forecast generating between EUR 1.5m and EUR 2m in
revenues in 2014, which is expected to increase to EUR 12m through
organic growth. Between 1Q and 2Q14, orders from Reitek will account for
less than 40% of Vivocha’s turnover.
Vivocha did not use financial advisers for its Series A funding round and it
has yet to decide whether to hire one for the next round, Barki said.
The company aims to expand organically in the UK, the US, and France via
partnerships modelled after the recent agreement with Germany’s hybris, a
vendor of multi-channel communication and commerce software solutions
recently acquired by SAP.
Following the integration, Vivocha will create engagement widgets for
different visitors, each with a personalised call to action, which enables
merchants to decide when and who to engage based on a variety of
customer segment rules.
Company overview
Reitek was founded in 1990 as a company with operations in satellite
broadcasting technology and Videotel – a videotex online service
accessible through telephone lines, similar to France’s Minitel. The
company later evolved into a customer engineering software company,
Barki said.
Engineering Ingegneria Informatica bought a majority stake in 1992, exiting
after a Barki-led management buyout in 2004. Between 2004 and 2008, the
company more than doubled its turnover to EUR 8.5m from EUR 4m.
Daniele Barki (56) previously worked at Sixcom, the telematic engineering
business of Italy’s Olivetti Group, and Siscat, part of Cds group. After
project management experience at Philips Automation, he co-founded
Reitek in 1990. He is Reitek’s largest shareholder with a 55% stake.
by Riccardo Ghia in London