Milan, Feb. 01, 2023 – Datrix S.p.A. (“Datrix”), a company specializing in the development of Augmented Analytics solutions and services based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning models for the data-driven growth of companies, with shares listed on Euronext Growth Milan, a multilateral trading system organized and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A., ISIN code IT000546837, announces that it has today signed agreements for the progressive acquisition of 100% of the company Aramis Srl (“Aramis”).
The agreements provide for the initial purchase of a 60% majority stake in the share capital of Aramis. For the purchase of the remaining 40%, call options are envisaged, to which variable price components (so-called earn out) are linked subject to the achievement of certain growth and margin targets of the new Machine Learning & Model Serving division.
The combination of the valuable experience and expertise of Aramis and 3rdPlace, already part of the Datrix Group, resulted in the creation of the new player “Aramix”, which main focus is the development of descriptive, predictive and prescriptive data science models that apply AI to management and industrial processes to make them more efficient.
Indeed, today the deployment of artificial intelligence is crucial to the success of companies, also for SMEs in the industrial, manufacturing and production world.
Datrix CEO Fabrizio Milano d’Aragona comments:
“This acquisition is of significant strategic importance to us and helps to further strengthen the Group’s Machine Learning & Model Serving division. The creation of Aramix, which combines high-level vertical skills, aims to strengthen Datrix’s presence in a fast-growing market, also through international synergies. With this integration, we will pursue increasingly challenging projects in different industrial fields, strengthening those that refer to the world of artificial intelligence applied to industry, as also envisaged by the PNRR. At the same time, the deployment of scalable, high-impact AI solutions will be accelerated. Our mission focuses on the centrality of the concept of efficiency: it is on efficiency that AI can best support companies of all sizes and sectors today”.
3rdPlace Team Principal Andrea Ronchi adds:
“Efficiency is one of the hallmarks of the Datrix Group’s positioning, which has always promoted ‘Sustainable AI solutions for business growth’. The Group is driven by a passion for technology and the belief that it can contribute to solving major contemporary problems: with Aramix, the application of AI becomes instrumental in making complex management and industrial processes efficient, thus saving resources – environmental, energy, production, capital, time, space – for companies. Efficiency is not only a cost issue but also a sustainability issue; a better allocation of resources allows to avoid waste, to be ready for the ongoing transformation, while ESG targets become more and more stringent”.
Enrico Zio, President of Aramis and a leading figure on the international academic
scene, and now also Scientific Director of the Datrix Group, explains:
“In the current context of multiple transitions (digital, ecological, social…), industry is called upon to guide its technological development (Digitisation, Cloud, IoT, Robotization, Industry 4.0, etc.) towards efficient, safe and sustainable solutions, putting the environment and people’s well-being at the center in the emerging vision of Industry 5.0.
One of the main drivers of this development is the ability to acquire and process increasing knowledge, and growing amounts of information, data and images, about the processes and systems underlying the manufacture of products and the generation and delivery of services. This capacity allows for informing technical decision-making and the identification of optimal strategic solutions to achieve the previously mentioned goals of efficiency, safety and sustainability, goals that are necessary and now demanded. This is why Aramix was created, a player that integrates the skills of Aramis with those of the Datrix Group, to provide companies with the necessary systemic vision and today’s indispensable engineering knowledge of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The new and innovative reality of Aramix will make it possible to capitalize on the profound skills acquired by Aramis over many years of scientific research and industrial development, in complete technical synergy with the excellent IT and Machine Learning & Model Serving skills demonstrated in the field by Datrix, and in perfect harmony of strategic vision with the group”.
- Description of the acquired company (Aramis)
Aramis, founded in 2012 by a team of PhDs from the Politecnico di Milano, is a company specializing in the development of algorithms and models for analyzing the performance of industrial systems and components in terms of risk, reliability, maintenance and resilience, based on the most innovative statistical and artificial intelligence techniques, to support corporate groups and major industrial clusters in Italy and worldwide.
Aramis works with numerous industrial clusters and leading companies in their fields of expertise, including oil & gas, chemicals, energy, railways and transport, aeronautics and defense, pharma and industrial machinery manufacturing.
- Target market: AI applied to the industrial world
From a recent study by the European Commission on “Industrial applications of artificial intelligence and big data” emerges that there is significant potential for GDP growth of up to 13.5% by 2030, with different peaks depending on geographic areas and sectors. However, the potential of AI can only be fully realized if European companies, and in particular industrial, manufacturing and production groups, are adequately supported in their transition to the use of artificial intelligence and predictive models, and if they are able to reap its competitive advantages.
AI is likely to have the greatest economic impact on three macro-areas:
- the manufacturing sector and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), with a potential total impact of AI in Europe of up to Euro 200 billion by 2030;
- mobility, with a potential AI impact of Euro 300 billion;
- the medical and smart healthcare world, with a potential impact of AI of approximately Euro 105 billion.
- Transaction details
Under the purchase agreement, Datrix will acquire 60% of the share capital of Aramis; the transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
The purchase of the remaining portion of Aramis’ share capital by Datrix may take place through the exercise of call option rights (held by Datrix) that will allow for (i) the purchase of an additional 20% of Aramis’ share capital in the first half of 2024, and (ii) the purchase of the last 20% of Aramis’ share capital in the first half of 2025, the consideration for which will be determined based on the results achieved in terms of growth and margins of the new Machine Learning & Model Serving division.
The payment of the purchase price for the initial 60% will be made in cash from Datrix’s available liquidity. The payment of the consideration for the purchase of the shares resulting from the exercise of the options will take place for 80% in cash and for the remaining 20% through the assignment of Datrix shares (with an 18-month lock-up period).
It should be noted that the transaction has a strong strategic and growth value for Datrix although the economic value of the acquisition does not have a significant impact on the Group’s numbers.
The contract also provides for the release by the sellers of representations and warranties
with related indemnity undertakings. The sellers, with a view to maintaining business continuity, will remain involved in the management of “Aramix”, with Enrico Zio in the role of Scientific Director of the Datrix Group.
- Effect of the transaction on Datrix
Aramix stems from the combination of experience and verticality of 3rdPlace – which combines mathematical modeling, multidisciplinary expertise and technology to extract knowledge from traditional and alternative data in order to probe and optimize management processes – and Aramis, characterized by a strong background in the optimisation of physical processes related to the industrial, manufacturing and energy world.
The merging of the 3rdPlace and Aramis teams leads to an exponential strengthening of the skills and capabilities at stake, with the possibility of confronting increasingly complex and competitive contexts, both in Italy and in international markets.
This puts the Datrix Group in a leading position in the field of innovation, to meet the needs of today’s industrial world and to enhance research through its increasingly close relationship with universities and research centers, further improving its ability to attract and train new talent.