France welcomes \L’Immagine Ritrovata\

France welcomes \L’Immagine Ritrovata\

Simest and CDP Group continue to work together to promote the internationalisation of Italian businesses

Rome, 20 July 2016

SIMEST has reached an agreement to introduce Bologna-based company L’Immagine Ritrovata – an international leader in film restoration – to the French market.  Under the contract, Simest will acquire 49% of the French firm L’Image Retrouvèe from the Italian parent company. The agreement was signed by Andrea Novelli (Simest CEO), Davide Pietrantoni (Sole Director of L’Immagine Ritrovata Srl) and Gian Luca Farinelli (Director of Cineteca di Bologna).

The initiative will enable the building of a film restoration workshop for the French market, thanks to an investment by Simest of around €200 thousand. The venture into France by the company is a clear strategic choice: state financing for film restoration makes France one of the leading markets in the restoration industry, accounting for 20-25% of annual revenue in recent years.

Thanks to the agreement, L’Immagine Ritrovata continues to expand internationally through its partnership with Simest, which began in 2014 with the establishment together of L’Immagine Ritrovata Asia Ltd in Hong Kong (China), providing the first restoration service in the Asian market.

The partnership is also part of the programme to support Italian business owners seeking to expand abroad, which is supported by Simest as financial partner and the entire CDP Group.