Here are the accounts and risks of Multiversity (Pegaso University, Mercatorum, San Raffaele)
How did the 2022 income statement of Multiversity, the company led by CEO, Fabio Vaccarono (formerly Google) and controlled by the CVC fund, which owns the online universities Pegaso, San Raffaele and Universitas Mercatorum
Profit under one million euros in 2022 for Multiversity, a company led by Fabio Vaccarono (in the photo), former vice president of Google and former CEO of Google Italy, which owns, among other things, three telematic universities (Pegaso, Mercatorum and San Raffaele in Rome ) and 85% of the Sole 24 Ore Formation. Multiversity is wholly owned by British fund CVC Capital Partners .
THE INCOME ACCOUNT
In 2022, as can be seen from the financial statements, Multiversity recorded a profit of 664 thousand euros compared to over 8.4 million in the previous year despite the good growth in revenues which came close to 22 million (there were 10, 4 million in 2021). The strong increase in costs certainly weighed on the financial statements, which exceeded 28.4 million (compared to more than 10.5 million a year earlier) and in which depreciation and write-downs played a major role above all for over 13.2 million (there were more than 5.7 million in 2021). A plus sign also for personnel costs, which rose to 6.7 million from just over 2.3 million. In short, the shopping carried out during the year made itself felt.
Moreover, against over 41.5 million in income from equity investments (to which it is necessary to add almost 967 thousand in other financial income), there is a loss of almost 3 million in total financial income and charges due to the over 45.4 million paid in interest and other financial charges.
As far as cash flow is concerned, the one absorbed by investments amounted to 228.54 million euros and mainly includes the acquisition of the San Raffaele in Rome (153 million) and that of the equity investments in Sole 24 Ore Formazione and Aulab (10 million in total). Instead, the cash flow from financing activities amounted to 218.612 million euro and mainly includes the repayment of the "bridge to cash" loan for 221 million.
ACQUISITIONS AND SHAREHOLDINGS
Last year, in October, the group completed the acquisition of the San Raffaele Telematic University of Rome which – according to the financial statements – has more than 8,000 students and is in fifth place among 98 Italian universities (state and non-state) , according to the Anvur classification.
The following month, however, it finalized the partnership with Il Sole 24 Ore which sold 85% of the newly established Sole 24 Ore Formazione to Multiversity (maintaining a 15% stake) to "promote and convey the services and marketing of the educational offer covered by the partnership”.
Among the other significant events of the year, it is also worth mentioning the acquisition of 60.61% of Aulab, a company active in the training of software developers.
It should be remembered that Multiversity owns the subsidiary Università Telematica Pegaso spa, conferred during the 2019 financial year, which represents "the main strategic asset of the company, as the parent company of Università Telematica Pegaso srl", established by ministerial decree of 2 April 2006.
Going to read the document relating to the 2022 financial year, one discovers in fact that the latter has a net book value of 987 million and 948,121 thousand euros, much more than the almost 179 million of the investee management company Utsr (100%), of the almost 10 million of Certipass srl (100%), of the 7.4 million of Aulab (60.61%) and of the approximately 7.3 million of Sole 24 Ore Formazione (85%).
THE DEFINITIVE EXIT OF IERVOLINO FROM THE GROUP
2022 was also a particularly important year for relations with Danilo Iervolino, the entrepreneur who founded Unipegaso and Universitas Mercatorum and who between 2019 and 2021 sold 100% of his shares in Wversity to Paganini Bidco, a Luxembourg company indirectly held by the CVC Capital Partners fund (only for the second 50% it pocketed 1.3 billion dollars, hence the nickname "mister billion").
At the end of April last year Paganini Bidco and Iervolino signed an agreement for "a potential positive adjustment of the sale price" (for 50 million) in relation to the agreement signed about a year earlier for the acquisition of the shares of Wversity spa ( adjustment then paid on 20 July). On the same day, Iervolino resigned and terminated the contractual relationship signed at the end of October 2021, receiving 3 million in exchange.
Following the exit of Iervolino, on 22 July 2022, the reverse merger of Paganini Bidco, Wversity and Multiversity spa into Multiversity srl took place and then the transformation of the latter into a joint stock company. As at 31 December 2022, the share capital of Multiversity spa was entirely held by Paganini Investment srl.
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER YEAR-END
Present in the document, but implemented after the end of the 2022 financial year, are some significant facts such as the establishment of a non-profit association in which the telematic universities San Raffaele of Rome, Mercatorum, Pegaso, e-Campus, Leonardo da Vinci participate , Giustina Fortunato and IUL to promote a culture that recognizes and values the role of the university in the social, cultural and economic reality, strengthening cooperation for the progress of culture, science, education and research".
Furthermore, again in January 2023, Multiversity adopted the new tertiary, distribution and services collective bargaining agreement for the Mercatorum and Pegaso universities.
Lastly, the financial statements mention regulatory risks .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/multiversity-risultati-economici-2022/ on Fri, 18 Aug 2023 05:42:40 +0000.