Castor Srl offered to acquire Cerved Group S.p.A. (BIT:CERV) from a group of shareholders for €1.8 billion on March 8, 2021. Under the terms, Castor will acquire 192.28 million Cerved shares at a price of €9.5 per share. On August 27, 2021, Castor Srl raised the bid price for Cerved shares to €10.20 per share resulting in a total consideration paid of €2 billion. Castor plans to raise the funds necessary to pay the maximum disbursement through the use of its own funds, using the proceeds from equity injections and/or shareholders' loans that will be made available by FermION and FSI pursuant to equity commitment letters entered into on the date hereof by Castor, FermION and FSI.

The transaction is subject to minimum tender of 50% plus one share, Cerved shareholders' approval, antitrust approval, and approval from Office of the Italian Prime Minister. The minimum threshold condition was raised to a stake of 80% from 50% plus one share. As of March 25, 2021, the transaction received clearance from the Italian Antitrust Authority (AGCM). On July 15, 2021, the Board of Directors of Cerved Group deems the offer as not adequate for the shareholders and accordingly rejected the offer. As of June 2, 2021, transaction is approved by Bank of Italy. As of July 6, 2021, Bank of Greece has approved the transaction. As of September 7, 2021, the Board of Gruppo MutuiOnline S.p.A approved the transaction. As of September 3, 2021, Castor said that if it acquires over 90% of the total stake then it will raise bid price to €10.5 per share otherwise it will stick to previous offer €10.2 per share. As of July 8, 2021, tender offer period will start on July 16, 2021 and will end on August 5, 2021. As of August 3, 2021, tender offer period will end on August 31, 2021. As on August 27, 2021, Castor extended the period of the tender to September 9, 2021. Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited, Intesa Sanpaolo - IMI Corporate & Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, Italian Branch, Sociedad De Valores S.A., Italian Branch, JP MORGAN SECURITIES PLC, SUCCURSALE ITALIANA, UNICREDIT SPA and BANCA AKROS SPA acted as financial advisors; and Carlo Croff, Edoardo Canetta, Giulio Napolitano, Stefania Bariatti, Alessandro Portolano and Marco Maugeri of Chiomenti Studio Legale; and Giuseppe Scassellati Sforzolini, Pietro Fioruzzi, Paolo Rainelli, Saverio Valentino, Edoardo Filiberto Roversi and Laura Prosperetti of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP (Milan) acted as legal advisors to Castor. Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted as a legal advisor to Independent Directors of Cerved Group S.p.A. Georgeson acted as information agent for Castor. Mediobanca Banca di Credito Finanziario S.p.A. (BIT:MB), UBS AG, London Branch and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc acted as financial advisors as well as provided fairness opinion to the Board of Directors of Cerved.