The FSI Mid-Market Growth Equity Fund and the Moretti family have announced the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of an interest in Lumson S.p.A. At closing, Lumson will be 65% owned by the Moretti family and 35% held by FSI. The investment includes a capital increase and a convertible bond. Post transaction, Lumson will have no financial indebtedness and a sound capital structure to pursue its growth plan.

The seven-person Board of Directors will include Remo Moretti, as honorary chairman, Matteo Moretti, as chairman, Paolo Valsecchi, as CEO, Giovanni Broggiato, as vice chairman and CFO, Marco Tugnolo, investment director at FSI, and Carlo Bozotti, industrial partner at FSI and former CEO at STMicroelectronics.

As a reminder, this year, Lumson officials inaugurated their new plant in Capergnanica near Crema, south of Milan. This investment allows the Italian company to double its production of pumps and therefore reinforce its autonomy and its development in airless systems, among others.

The Lumson Group, which employs some 550 people, will achieve sales this year of € 100 million, including 70% in the skincare niche and 30% in makeup, “a growing sector,” according to Matteo Moretti, CEO.

Jean-Yves Bourgeois: Indeed a real turning point for your company?

Matteo Moretti: I am delighted about this FSI partnership, a prestigious Italian investor with an international network. The investment will provide Lumson with new resources to finance its growth, led by R&D and innovation. The Moretti family is very proud of this agreement, which further enhances our family’s long-term commitment to Lumson. The sector has recorded the highest revenue growth among the Italian industrial sectors between 2008 and 2016 and converts 42% of its output in exports.

Bourgeois: There were quite a lot of investments and developments at Lumson these past months!

Moretti: That’s right! After celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2015, the year 2017 was marked by the takeover of the Italian company Leoplast (€ 12 million in sales) which enables us today to acquire a real legitimacy in the development and manufacture of lipstick tubes. Thanks to this, we expanded our range of makeup packaging, with an entire line of standard and customized lipsticks, available in different materials and finishes with the use of very innovative technologies in terms of decoration. Let me also add that plastic components are still injected in Leoplast’s plant in Turin, but their assembly takes place in Capergnanica. And in a few days we will inaugurate a brand new building of 6,000 m² enabling us to double our production of pumps in Italy, representing some 150 million units per year. Last but not least, we were also granted the ISO 9001-2015 certification this year.

Bourgeois: When you talk of innovative packaging technology, you refer to your ‘Pop-Up’ technique?

MM: Yes, as you know, this “Pop Up” digital printing technique makes it possible to obtain a wide range of decorative solutions, ranging from simple single-color printing to very complex colors. Thanks to this technology (UV-based and solvent-based) and the four-color process, we can obtain an almost unlimited scale of colors (with the only exception of shiny metallized colors like gold or silver) on very dark surfaces. This allows perfectly reproducing the decoration motifs of each component, without the color and thickness variations usually seen with traditional decoration techniques (hot stamping, offset printing, screen printing or pad printing). The quality level that this technique offers is therefore very high.

Bourgeois: A 2017/2018 period also marked by a real commercial breakthrough in the United States!

Moretti: We have had an office in the United States since 2008. But to boost our sales, I decided to move to New York in 2016. And I must say that I do not regret this decision the least little bit. With the on-site team, we have increased sales by more than 60% in two years and, in particular, in the field of skincare packaging. A result also due to the doubling of our sales force on both the East Coast and the West Coast, with a current staff of six people. Note also that to continue our North American development, Emanuele Mazzei was appointed CEO of Lumson USA.