Safety21 SpAan Italian GovTech platform leader in end-to-end technological services for enforcement and road safety, announces that on 3 November it has completed, through its subsidiary Ge.Fi.LSpA, the acquisition of 60% of Smartprise Italia Srl (“Smartprise”), a leading company in the international debt collection of Highway Code fines and unpaid motorway tolls. At the same time as the closing, Smartprise Italia acquired the operating branch of Smartprise Sagl, a Swiss company based in Chiasso, thus bringing together the activities, skills and technology of the Smartprise group in a single Italian entity.
With over 20 years of experience in the sector, Smartprise deals with the recovery of debts that remain unpaid after notification abroad: fines to the Highway Code and motorway tolls not paid by foreign drivers and vehicles. It does this by acting directly in the debtor’s country, through a network of specialized and verified correspondents in over 80 countries who operate in the local language and in compliance with local regulations, with compensation linked exclusively to the amounts actually recovered. The heart of the model is the proprietary SaaS platform, unique in its kind, which governs the entire process from taking charge of the case to reporting: each credit is tracked in real time and public administrations and customer dealerships have full visibility, at every stage, on the operations carried out by foreign partners. The result is a transparent, measurable international recovery without fixed costs for the institution.
The entry of Smartprise into the Group strengthens the international component of Safety21’s GovTech platform, which integrates IoT devices installed in the territory, proprietary cloud software and specialist services to support administrations throughout the entire enforcement cycle, from the detection of violations to the management, notification and collection of sanctions, in Italy and abroad. The proprietary and modular TitanO® platform enables the digital and integrated management of these processes. With Smartprise, the Group enhances the international recovery of debts remaining unpaid after notification, carried out through a global network of correspondents and a SaaS platform that makes the service transparent and measurable for institutions; it also expands its presence in the motorway tolling collection sector. The operation constitutes the twelfth acquisition of the buy-and-build process started with the entry of BU Bregal Unternehmerkapital in 2021 (and follows by a few weeks the acquisition of Nivi SpA, announced last September).
«With Smartprise we strengthen our GovTech platform and the ability to support administrations in the digital management of the entire road safety cycle, including in the internal international debt collection phase – he declared Gianluca Longo, CEO and founder of Safety21 – Smartprise’s skills and technology are complementary to our TitanO® ecosystem and allow us to expand the offering with traceable and measurable services for institutions. I thank the Smartprise shareholders for choosing Safety21 as a partner for the next phase of growth: together we will continue to invest in cross-border collection and motorway tolling collection, to support the digitalisation of public administration and safer mobility».
The remaining 40% of the capital remains with the current shareholders of Smartprise, which will continue to operate with its own brand and structure, with the aim of developing technological and operational synergies with the Group.
As part of the operation, Safety21 was assisted by Chiomenti as legal consultant and by Deloitte for financial and tax due diligence; the sellers were assisted by Startax for legal and tax aspects.