Funds of Fun

Ok this is just for me, because I don't want to forget it.

Today we discussed the LBO of Ducati. Ducati, today a high end bike producer, was bought in 1996, when it was on the edge of the bankrupcy, by Texas Pacific Group, a private euiqty fund based in the US. The fun part is that the partner in charge of the transaction from the buyer side was in class and told us some funny story. The idea was explaining how in 1996 was to deal with italian entrepeneurs, which i think is not much more different than today, although today the PE market is more developed and people is used to that. Here are some stories

• There is one thing italian entrepeneurs care of, after football: avoiding taxes... and mistresses.
• The former owener of Ducati was used to have a private with a bed at the top flor of the headquarters. I took it away. What to do you think was his relation with me? Did he like me? Obviously not, i took away his sex room!
• He (always talking about the previous owner) was still on the board of the company, so he had to sign the financial statements. I gave it to him and he said "i'm not signing it" and i said "why?"... after some seconds of silent he said "give me three millions"
• Talking about ducati: of course this company has no profits. Profits meant taxes. So better tunnel the cash in Montecarlo or to some cute lady.

While he was telling this stories, our professor was embarassed and was hiding behind some paper! :)