Fabrizio Cerina

Fabrizio Cerina
Fabrizio Cerina - Courtesy of J.Jacobson, 2015
Residence Geneva, Switzerland
Nationality Italian and Canadian
Occupation Investment Banker
Years active 1995 – present
Title Chairman

Fabrizio Cerina is the chairman of international investment banking group Crédit des Alpes. The group has been operating in Europe, North and South America, Africa and China since the 1950s, mainly in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, banking and asset management.

Business career

Cerina has over 20 years' experience in investing capital and raising funds on behalf of institutional clients and large family offices. During his career he has acted as principal investor and advisor on over 250 transactions, mainly in the media & telecoms, real estate and industrial sectors.

Cerina began his career by acquiring a 34% stake in Banque de Participations et de Placements, Geneva, which he subsequently sold to Lebanese buyer Al-Mashreg Bank. Al-Mashreq was one of the largest banks in the Middle East at that time.

In 1982, he acquired Attel Bank, in which he invested CHF1.5 million (US$1.53 million), eventually listing the holding company on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in 1987. The total market value grew to approximately CHF130 million (US$133 million).

In the nineties Cerina was dubbed "a banker and a gentleman" by Swiss and international press when, as the controlling shareholder of Attel Bank, he voluntarily refunded clients out of his own pocket after a rogue trader caused losses amounting to CHF45 million (US$46 million). The trader stole money from clients, as well as dealing in unauthorized junk bonds and NASDAQ securities.[1][2]

Following a spin-off of the assets of Attel, Cerina re-formed and developed the business into Crédit des Alpes, now a successful investment bank that advises on large international transactions. The bank put together the US$4.2 billion acquisition by Vivendi of Brazil telecoms company GVT in 2009 — then the largest telecoms deal in the world.[3] Telecoms remains a key sector of importance for Cerina.[4][5]

In real estate, Crédit des Alpes acted as the sole advisor on the sale of Cipriani-Saxony Ocean Resort, Miami, to a U.S. corporate investor. The sale in 2007 remains to date one of the largest ever property transactions in Miami.[6]

In 2013, following a policy change in Spain and Portugal, real estate became an attractive opportunity for international investors. Crédit des Alpes capitalised upon the improved conditions, investing in property in Madrid and the Balearic Islands.

In January 2014, Crédit des Alpes announced that it had expanded its client offering after taking over three Miami-based real estate operators. . The U.S. subsidiary, Crédit des Alpes Partners, invested and developed property opportunities in the Americas and internationally.[7] In 2016, the company manoeuvred a successful exit from the American property market.

Private equity has been a key area for the bank since the early 1990s. Its holding company, Crédit des Alpes Holdings SA, acquired Swiss Data Deposit, a producer of digital technology in 2006, exiting in 2010.[8] In 1999, it bought Redaelli Tecna S.p.A., one of the world’s largest producers of steel wires, together with Kohlberg & Co in New York. Following a turnaround, Redaelli was sold in 2008 to Russia’s Severstal Metiz.

Early life and education

Cerina was born in Parma. His father was an entrepreneur and his mother a housewife. Cerina went to school in Milan and Hertfordshire. As a young man he excelled in light athletics, particularly pole vaulting.　

Cerina attended the University of Milan to read Economics, followed by Graduate School of Economics at Stanford University and Colombia Graduate School of Business in New York City.

Cerina also served his compulsory military service as a lieutenant in the Paratrooper Battalion of Carabinieri, the Italian civil and military police.

References

  1. ↑ "First Person: Fabrizio Cerina". Financial Times (London, UK) (21 July 2013).
  2. ↑ "Il "banchiere gentiluomo" abita a Lugano (The banker and gentleman lives in Lugano)". Il Messaggero (Italy) (25 October 1993).
  3. ↑ "Crédit des Alpes: Vivendi reprend GVT au Brésil (Crédit des Alpes leads on Vivendi deal to buy GVT in Brazil)". L'Agefi (Switzerland) (3 December 2009). Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Analysis: Austrian deal to test EU's stand on telecoms M&A". Reuters (13 August 2012). 13 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "AT&T Scours Europe for Discount Deal Targets: Real M&A". Bloomberg (15 July 2013).
  6. ↑ Clark, Nick (5 February 2008). "Florida hotel added to Cipriani empire". London: The Independent (UK) (5 February 2008).
  7. ↑ "Credit Des Alpes Forms Property Venture with Miami Firms". Bloomberg (16 January 2014).
  8. ↑ "Crédit des Alpes neuer Besitzer von Swiss Data Deposit". Finanz und Wirtschaft (Switzerland) (5 July 2006). Archived from the original on 6 July 2011.

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