Private equity is gaining momentum in the agri-food sector: 4 billion invested over five years

Over the last five years, private equity has invested almost half of the 9 billion euros invested in total since 2000 in the Italian food sector: between 2021 and 2025, 4 billion was allocated across 133 transactions involving 64 active investors, according to the Aifi-PwC database on the Italian private equity and venture capital market, which forms the basis of the research report “Numbers and Bubbles – Private capital and mergers in the food sector”, compiled by Aifi, the Italian Association of Private Equity, Venture Capital and Private Debt, together with Aksìa, Muzinich & Co and Vitale.
“There has been significant growth in the market in general, but particularly in this sector,” explains Alessia Muzio, head of research at Aifi, emphasising that the 133 transactions over the five-year period now account for more than half of the 261 carried out over the entire period.

According to Muzio, the main driver behind this acceleration is the growth in add-on acquisitions: between 2012 and 2025, companies in which private equity funds hold stakes carried out 157 such acquisitions, attributable to 80 platform companies, averaging two per company. “The most significant finding to emerge from this research is just how important mergers and acquisitions are for this sector,” says Muzio. The transactions include both individual acquisitions and the creation of full-fledged clusters, with several companies operating in the same segment being acquired within a short period of time.

The initial landscape, as you will recall, was ‘deeply fragmented’, consisting largely of family-run businesses passed down from father to son: today, they are merging to achieve a competitive scale. This trend has accelerated significantly in recent years: the number of add-on acquisitions in the sector has risen from 2 in 2012 to 33 in 2025, with 60 transactions carried out in the three-year period 2023–2025 alone.

Over the period 2000–2025, private equity recorded 393 investments across 261 transactions involving 208 companies, with 132 investors, totalling over €9 billion invested in equity – excluding early-stage, infrastructure and regional financial institutions, according to Aifi-PwC data. The majority of transactions were buyouts – 259 investments totalling €7,820 million – often accompanied by reinvestment by the owner family alongside the fund, to support growth strategies, generational succession and the introduction of professional management. Expansion deals, which are in the minority, totalled 103 for €867 million; replacement deals were more limited, at 22 for €180 million, and turnaround deals at 9 for €281 million.

In terms of the number of transactions, domestic operators dominate, accounting for 72 per cent of the investments recorded by Aifi-PwC; however, when looking at the total value, the picture is reversed: 64 per cent of the capital comes from international operators, a sign – explains Muzio – of growing interest in the excellence of ‘Made in Italy’ food products, which are often the subject of larger-scale transactions. By sector, food production remains the most significant segment with 239 investments totalling 4,880 million euros, followed by the supply and processing of raw materials, 36 investments totalling 1,953 million, and by catering and food delivery, which has been growing in recent years with 40 investments totalling 810 million. Geographically, transactions are concentrated mainly in Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. 64 per cent of the target companies are small and medium-sized enterprises, and almost a third have a turnover of between 10 and 30 million euros.