Private equity, 224 deals expected in the first six months

Artificial intelligence remains a relevant factor in target selection (75 per cent), despite a drop of 8.9 per cent.

As far as Next Generation EU and Pnrr are concerned, according to 56.8% of the operators, in the next six months, companies may encounter difficulties in the actual use of the funds made available. The remaining part of the sample, on the other hand, does not foresee any particular criticalities.

Regarding the reform of the TUF and the launch of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Fund of Funds, a large majority of operators express positive expectations: 77% believe that the revision of the regulatory framework will generate favourable effects, while 82% expect a positive impact from the introduction of the new instrument.

For the next six months, a clear orientation towards majority stakes emerges, indicated by 90.9% of operators as their preferred mode of investment, further increasing compared to the previous six months. In contrast, interest in minority stakes dropped significantly to 6.8%, while co-investments remained marginal at 2.3%.

In relation to the size of the deals expected in the next six months, a trend towards larger deals can be observed. Transactions between EUR 16 million and EUR 30 million remained more or less stable, falling slightly to 29.5% (-0.9%), while the share of deals above EUR 31 million increased to 54.6% (+9.9%).

With regard to divestment operations, only a minority (11.4%) of operators expect a decrease in activity, which is an increase compared to the previous six months (+2.5%), while the share of respondents expecting an increase in divestment activity decreases sharply (29.5%, -11.6%). The majority of respondents (59.1%, +9.1%) believe that there will be no change.

In 2025, the use of commercial banks was the most popular financing mode among operators for acquisition transactions, indicated by 68.2% of respondents with a growth of 3.9%. Investment banks also increased by 1.9% to around 9%. By contrast, private credit, chosen by 13.6% of operators (-4.2%), lost ground.

Expectations on operators providing debt capital in the next six months confirm the trend that emerged in the last six months: a strengthening of the role of commercial banks is expected, indicated by 63.6% of respondents (+10.1%). On the contrary, interest in private credit funds decreases, to 20.5% (-8.1%), highlighting a lower attractiveness of alternative financing solutions.

The weakness of the exit market in recent years has been the industry's weak point not only in Italy, leading fund portfolios to age more than the natural investment cycle predicts. Deloitte's survey, however, shows signs of a slow recovery in exit investment activity. While around four out of ten operators expect to focus on finding new investment opportunities during the next six months, down 7.3% from last year, and the share of operators engaged in portfolio management activities increased slightly (22.7%, +1.3%), there was a noticeable increase to 20.5% (+11.6%) for the share of those who expect exit activities. On the other hand, the share of those who will concentrate on fundraising activities fell slightly: only 15.9% of the total number of respondents (-5.5%).