Barabino & Partners, an Italian company specializing in business communication, has completed the acquisition of 100% of B2P Consulting GmbH, a French-German company specializing in strategic communication and media relations in France and Germany. The operation has a value of around 3 million. B2P Communications, founded in 2013, currently employs around 20 multilingual professionals (French, German, English, Spanish and Italian) in its three offices in Paris, Berlin and Munich and generated revenues of around 2.5 million in 2021.
The transaction is significant from a strategic point of view, as it strengthens B&P’s competitive positioning in key markets for the European economy and finance and is characterized by confirming Barabino & Partners as an international entrepreneurial reality. More specifically, the B2P acquisition allows Barabino & Partners to enter the French market through the main door – traditionally closed to non-local operators – by acquiring an office in Paris with ten consultants. Furthermore, it guarantees significant growth on the German market, where B&P has already been present since 2009 through the subsidiary Barabino & P. Deutschland GmbH led by Partner Laura Bruzzone adding a new office in Munich and ten consultants to the traditional Berlin office. During the initial transition phase, B2P will remain independent and will continue to be led by its founder Bénédicte de Peretti together with Federico Steiner, managing director and equity partner of B&P.
«The progressive integration of B2P in the B&P group – said Luca Barabino – with the synergies that we will activate in the short and medium term with our other foreign companies B&P Uk Plc. led in London by Pietro Como and B&P Usa Llc, led in New York by Marco Lastrico, it will allow us to have access to a portfolio of German and French clients to offer activities in Italy, the UK and the United States and vice versa ». Consider that in the last 10 years French companies have carried out transactions in Italy for a total of € 47.3 billion. At the same time, there was a growing, strong interest of our companies in the transalpine market, with a marked progression starting from 2015, which brought the stock of Italian investments in France to 37.8 billion. Overall, there are more than 1,700 Italian companies present in France with investments in over 2,500 French companies, and about 2,000 companies under French control in Italy: therefore, these are about 4,000 “bi-national” companies with over 100 billion euros of mutual investments.
“With offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Munich, New York, Milan, Rome and Genoa – said Federico Steiner – we have what it takes to be the preferred partner of American and Asian companies that want to develop programs and projects of communication in the key countries of the European Union and in the UK “. Almost nine years after founding B2P, “it was crucial for me to step into the next level and expand our service offering in Europe,” said B2P founder Bénédicte de Peretti. “Today, we are delighted to join Barabino & Partners to strengthen our positioning as part of a leading group with great ambitions and resources”.
B&P together with B2P will employ nearly 130 people with revenues of around 19 million. A few days ago, B&P announced the start, in Italy, of the transformation process into a Benefit Company. Advisor to Barabino & Partners in the transaction were Cdr Cattaneo Dall’Olio Rho & Partners, Tax & Legal (strategic and financial advisor), Eversheds Sutherland (legal, tax and labor advisor), Tcf Team Corporate Finance Consult GmbH (Due Diligence financial) and Anwaltskanzlei Donà Viscardini (administrative advisor).