Facile.it

Facile.it
TypeSocietà per azioni
IndustryOnline price comparison, insurance brokerage, credit intermediation
Founded2008 (2008), as Assicurazione.it
FounderAlberto Genovese, Andrea Piccioni, Silvio Pagliani
Headquarters
Milan
,
Italy
Area served
Italy
Key peopleMaurizio Pescarini (CEO)
Revenue€248 million (2025)
OwnerSilver Lake
Number of employees
c. 1,600 (group) (2026)
SubsidiariesFacile.it Broker di Assicurazioni S.p.A.
Facile.it Mediazione Creditizia S.p.A.
Websitewww.facile.it

Facile.it S.p.A. is an Italian company that operates an online price comparison platform and acts as an insurance broker and credit intermediary. Based in Milan, it compares and distributes motor insurance and other insurance products, mortgages and consumer loans, and household contracts for electricity, gas, broadband and mobile telephony, as well as long-term car rental.[1][2]

The company was founded in 2008 as Assicurazione.it and took its present name in 2011. It has changed ownership three times: Oakley Capital acquired control in 2014, EQT in 2018 and the American investment firm Silver Lake in 2022, in a transaction that valued Facile.it at more than €1 billion and was described by the buyer as making it Italy's second unicorn.[3][4] Its practices have been the subject of several proceedings by the Italian consumer and competition regulator.[1][5]

History

Origins and early growth (2008–2014)

The business began in 2008 as Assicurazione.it, a website comparing motor and motorcycle third-party liability quotes, founded by the entrepreneur Alberto Genovese,[6][7] together with Andrea Piccioni and Silvio Pagliani. In 2011 it was renamed Facile.it and extended its activity to financial products and household tariffs; in the same year Holding Italiana Quattordicesima (H14), the investment vehicle of the Berlusconi family, took a stake that BeBeez later reported at 20.39 per cent.[8][9]

Revenue rose from €19.3 million in 2012 to €28.6 million in 2013, with EBITDA of €4.7 million and about 1.5 million monthly users.[9] In a 2014 thematic survey of the Italian market, the insurance supervisor IVASS examined six comparison websites, Facile.it among them.[10]

Oakley Capital (2014–2018)

In September 2014 the British investment firm Oakley Capital acquired a 75 per cent holding through its second fund; BeBeez reported the price at €27 million, while Italian trade press valued the whole company at about €100 million.[9][11] Mauro Giacobbe became chief executive in place of Genovese.[12] The company acquired the mortgage comparison site Mutui.it in 2015 and opened a network of franchised high-street shops in 2017.[13][14]

By 2017 revenue had reached €66 million, with EBITDA of €12.6 million, a net profit of €1.2 million and about three million monthly users.[13][15]

EQT (2018–2022)

In May 2018 the Swedish private equity firm EQT acquired a majority stake through its EQT VIII fund, with Oakley reinvesting €80 million for a minority holding through a later fund; the trade publication Unquote reported that Oakley had realised a gross return of 3.8 times its investment and an internal rate of return of 51 per cent.[15][16] The price was not disclosed; the Il Sole 24 Ore journalist Carlo Festa put it at €400–450 million.[17] Facile.it also acquired a 60 per cent stake in the credit intermediary Nexus for €7 million.[13]

The company opened a customer service centre in Cagliari in 2020,[18] and in December of that year announced a change of leadership, with Giacobbe moving to the chairmanship and Tobias Stuber taking over as chief executive from April 2021.[19] In 2021 Facile.it entered the automotive market by acquiring MiaCar, a platform for car sales and leasing.[20]

Silver Lake (2022–present)

In June 2022 the American investment firm Silver Lake agreed to acquire a majority stake from EQT and Oakley Capital, which reinvested alongside it. Bloomberg News reported a valuation of about €1 billion, and Silver Lake described the transaction as making Facile.it "Italy's second unicorn".[3][4][21] At the time of the sale the sellers reported revenue of about €140 million for 2021, more than four million unique monthly visitors, 39 physical shops and over 3,000 agents.[22][23] The analyst James Carthew estimated proceeds of about £53 million for Oakley Capital Investments, some 23 per cent above the carrying value of its holding.[23]

Financial statements filed for individual group companies show smaller figures than the aggregate reported at the time of the sale: for 2022 Facile.it S.p.A. reported revenue of €44.1 million and a net loss of €11.1 million, while the holding company Tangerine Holdco reported revenue of €91 million and a net loss of €19.5 million.[24]

In July 2023 the company announced the appointment of Maurizio Pescarini, previously chief executive of Genertel, as chief executive with effect from 1 October 2023, succeeding Stuber.[25][26] Under Pescarini the company made a series of acquisitions: Gruppo Finital, an insurance intermediary founded in 1958, in March 2024;[27] Gruppo Italfinance, a corporate credit broker, in February 2025;[28] Horizon Automotive, a car mobility platform founded in 2020, in September 2025;[29] and the automotive services company Infodrive Service together with the insurance agency Fideas in June 2026.[30]

BeBeez reported group revenue of €248 million for 2025, up 24 per cent, with EBITDA of €86 million and about 1,600 employees, and a €410 million bond listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange maturing in December 2029.[30]

Operations

Facile.it S.p.A. operates the comparison service for household contracts — electricity, gas, broadband, mobile telephony, current accounts and payment cards, and long-term car rental — and the group's marketing activities. Two regulated subsidiaries carry out the intermediation: Facile.it Broker di Assicurazioni S.p.A., an insurance broker operating on the facile.it and assicurazione.it websites, and Facile.it Mediazione Creditizia S.p.A., a credit intermediary operating on facile.it, prestiti.it and mutui.it.[1][31] The company is headquartered in Milan and has further offices in Cagliari,[18] Catania and Turin.

The company is remunerated by commissions paid by the providers with which it has distribution agreements, and compares the offers of those partners rather than the whole market; a 2016 investigation by the Italian magazine Altreconomia reported commissions of between 2.5 and 14 per cent for each policy sold.[2] Alongside the website, distribution runs through a call centre, a network of agents and franchised shops.[22][14]

In its 2014 survey of comparison websites, IVASS identified shortcomings common to the sector, including the fact that the sites compared mainly insurers from which they received commissions, that the number of insurers said to be compared was higher than the actual number, and that comparison was based on price without regard to the content of the policy.[10]

In April 2015 the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) closed proceedings PS9212 by making binding a set of commitments offered by Facile.it. The company undertook to explain its savings claims, to publish the list of partner insurers and the commissions received from each, and to offer optional cover only on an opt-in basis, ending the automatic pre-selection of add-ons.[31][5] A parallel case concerned the competing site 6Sicuro; both decisions were later cited in academic work on the effects of comparison websites on competition.[32]

In May 2021 the AGCM opened investigation I856 into four comparison websites, including Facile.it Broker di Assicurazioni, and thirteen insurers, over an alleged exchange of sensitive information on the terms of direct motor insurance sales dating back to 2012.[33] The proceedings were closed on 10 May 2022 with commitments and without any finding of infringement; the parties undertook to aggregate and anonymise the data exchanged, to reduce the frequency of reporting and to make the reports available to all insurers on fair and non-discriminatory terms.[34][35]

In October 2021 the AGCM fined two group companies a total of €7 million for unfair commercial practices: €5.95 million for Facile.it Broker di Assicurazioni and €1.05 million for Facile.it Mediazione Creditizia. The authority found that loan comparisons had been presented without making clear that the quotes were provisional, that the status of Prima Assicurazioni as an intermediary rather than an insurer had not been adequately disclosed, and that automatic pop-ups and unsolicited telephone calls amounted to aggressive practices.[1][7] The company appealed. The regional administrative court of Lazio upheld the fine in 2023, but in June 2025 the Council of State annulled it in judgment no. 4843/2025, holding that consumers had been clearly informed and that the call centre activity did not constitute an aggressive practice.[36][37]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "ICA: two companies of the Facile.it group fined 7 million euros". Italian Competition Authority. 13 October 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  2. 1 2 Bongioanni, Maurizio (8 June 2016). "Assicurazione auto online: chi sono e come operano i comparatori" [Online car insurance: who the comparison sites are and how they operate]. Altreconomia (in Italian). Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 Sirletti, Sonia; Förster, Jan-Henrik (22 June 2022). "Silver Lake to buy top Italian price-comparison site Facile.it". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Silver Lake enters into definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Facile.it from EQT and Oakley Capital" (Press release). Silver Lake. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Italy – Italian Competition Authority: comparison websites of car insurance policies will display more complete and transparent information – no opt-out mechanism for optional covers". International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  6. ↑ "Rc Auto: la polizza «low cost» si compra online, in 10 minuti" [Motor insurance: the "low cost" policy is bought online, in 10 minutes]. Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  7. 1 2 "Facile.it, dall'Antitrust multa da 7 milioni di euro a due società del gruppo: "Pratiche commerciali scorrette e aggressive"" [Facile.it: 7 million euro fine from the antitrust authority for two group companies – "unfair and aggressive commercial practices"]. Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 13 October 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Servizi, nasce Facile.it nuovo comparatore web di tariffe" [Services: Facile.it, a new web tariff comparator, is born]. la Repubblica (in Italian). 14 April 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 "Oakley Capital bets on Facile.it price comparison website". BeBeez International. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  10. 1 2 Investigation into comparison websites in the Italian insurance market (PDF) (Report). IVASS. November 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "Berlusconi, Facile.it ceduta per 100 mln" [Berlusconi: Facile.it sold for 100 million]. Assinews (in Italian). 23 September 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  12. ↑ "Oakley Capital acquista Facile.it" [Oakley Capital buys Facile.it]. Assinews (in Italian). 24 September 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  13. 1 2 3 "Sweden's private equity firm EQT to buy control of Facile.it". BeBeez International. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  14. 1 2 "Facile.it lancia la rete di negozi in franchising" [Facile.it launches its franchised shop network]. Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). 10 October 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  15. 1 2 Argentieri, Alessia (24 May 2018). "EQT acquires Facile.it from Oakley Capital". Unquote. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  16. ↑ "Oakley Capital agrees sale of Facile and follow-on investment" (Press release). Oakley Capital. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  17. ↑ Festa, Carlo (25 May 2018). "Eqt conquista Facile.it per 400-450 milioni" [EQT takes Facile.it for 400–450 million]. Il Sole 24 Ore – The Insider (in Italian). Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  18. 1 2 "Facile.it apre una nuova sede in Sardegna" [Facile.it opens a new site in Sardinia]. InsurZine (in Italian). 14 October 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  19. ↑ "Rinnovamento ai vertici di Facile.it" [Leadership change at Facile.it]. Business People (in Italian). 21 December 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  20. ↑ "Facile.it entra nel mercato dell'auto, acquisita MiaCar" [Facile.it enters the car market with the acquisition of MiaCar]. ANSA (in Italian). 24 May 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  21. ↑ Festa, Carlo (22 June 2022). "Facile.it diventa americana, va al fondo Silver Lake per oltre un miliardo" [Facile.it becomes American, sold to Silver Lake for more than a billion]. Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  22. 1 2 "EQT Private Equity to sell Facile.it, Italy's largest online price comparison platform, to Silver Lake" (Press release). EQT. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  23. 1 2 Carthew, James (23 June 2022). "Oakley Capital sells facile.it". QuotedData. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  24. ↑ Trezzano, Claudio (17 November 2023). "Come vanno i conti di Facile.it?" [How are Facile.it's accounts doing?]. Startmag (in Italian). Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  25. ↑ "Facile.it, Maurizio Pescarini è il nuovo amministratore delegato" [Facile.it: Maurizio Pescarini is the new chief executive]. Fortune Italia (in Italian). 26 July 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  26. ↑ "Facile.it, Maurizio Pescarini assume ufficialmente l'incarico di ceo" [Facile.it: Maurizio Pescarini formally takes up the role of CEO]. Insurance Trade (in Italian). 2 October 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  27. ↑ "Facile.it acquisisce il 100% del Gruppo Finital" [Facile.it acquires 100% of Gruppo Finital]. InsurZine (in Italian). 25 March 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  28. ↑ "Facile.it acquista il 100% del gruppo Italfinance: «Così faremo consulenza anche alle aziende»" [Facile.it buys 100% of the Italfinance group: "This way we will also advise businesses"]. Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 24 February 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  29. ↑ "Ropes & Gray advised Facile.it on its acquisition of Horizon Automotive". Ropes & Gray. 1 October 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  30. 1 2 Peveraro, Stefania (6 July 2026). "Facile.it, Pescarini: «La crescita di quest'anno sarà tanto quanto valeva tutta l'azienda sei anni fa»" [Facile.it, Pescarini: "This year's growth will be as much as the whole company was worth six years ago"]. BeBeez (in Italian). Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  31. 1 2 "Provvedimento n. 25420, PS9212 – Facile.it–Comparatore RC Auto" [Decision no. 25420, PS9212 – Facile.it–Motor insurance comparator] (PDF) (in Italian). Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  32. ↑ Porrini, Donatella (2018). "The effects of innovation on market competition: the case of the insurance comparison websites". Marketing and Management of Innovations (3): 324–332. doi:10.21272/mmi.2018.3-29.
  33. ↑ "ICA: investigation launched into price comparators and insurance companies for suspected agreement on motor vehicle liability policies". Italian Competition Authority. 21 May 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  34. ↑ "ICA accepts commitments in investigation into price comparators and insurance companies for alleged collusion on motor vehicle insurance policies". Cleary Antitrust Watch. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. May 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  35. ↑ "The Italian Competition Authority accepts commitments from 4 price comparison websites and 13 insurers over an exchange of information on motor insurance premiums (Facile.it / Allianz Direct)". Concurrences. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  36. ↑ "Consiglio di Stato annulla sanzione Antitrust da 7 mln di euro a Facile.it" [Council of State annuls the 7 million euro antitrust fine on Facile.it]. Assinews (in Italian). 9 June 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  37. ↑ "Facile.it, annullata la sanzione dell'Antitrust" [Facile.it: the antitrust fine is annulled]. Insurance Trade (in Italian). 6 June 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.