Chocolate, coffee, pharmaceuticals, aviation technology, fashion, design, agribusiness, analytical laboratories and pharmacies: these are the sectors on the radar of private equity funds, which, despite the complicated economic and geopolitical situation, are not standing still. Expectations are for transactions, between now and the end of the year, worth more than EUR 18 billion. This demonstrates that the system’s liquidity continues to be significant and that the big funds are betting on Italia: the move by the big US investor Kkr, which has opened its Italian headquarters in Milan, has not gone unnoticed.
The market is divided into two large bands: on the one hand, some maxi-transactions (with an estimated value of around 15-16 billion) and, on the other, a robust list of deals on small and medium-sized companies (for a further 2-3 billion). The numerically most important deal is the EUR 10.7 billion takeover bid launched by the Cvc and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert funds on the Recordati pharmaceutical group. If it goes through, it will be one of the biggest deals in Europe in 2026.
Next in line, unlisted but with a potential value of EUR 3 billion, is the pending deal on Irca, the Italian chocolate bigwig owned by the Advent fund. Non-binding offers were expected in the past few days and large private equity firms such as Cinven, Blackstone, and Pai are in the running.
Among the big deals of the year (with a hypothetical valuation of around one billion) is the one on Hippocrates Holding, Italy’s leading pharmaceutical group with over 500 pharmacies under the Lafarmacia brand, which the French fund Antin has decided to sell, entrusting a mandate to Goldman Sachs and Mediobanca. There is also expectation for the start of the sale, by the end of the year, of Bianalisi, a subsidiary of Charme.
Another round operation could then be that on Segafredo Zanetti coffee, a historic multinational that was listed until a few years ago. The dossier is on the table of several funds since the majority is for sale and the financial group QuattroR is on the way out. Also of considerable size (over 500 million) is the trial on Engineering’s health division, which has ended up on the radar of some funds.