Italian M&A market holds its own against economic trends
According to the report of the Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici study, in the second half of 2023 mergers in Italy reached a value of EUR 46.9 billion
by Carlo Festa
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2' min read
2' min read
According to the latest report published by Italian law firm Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici (GPBL), dealmaking activity in Italy reached €46.9bn in the second half of 2023, up from the €16.4bn recorded in the first six months of the year, showing a recovering market after a complex period.
The largest M&A deal announced in Italy in 2023 was the €21.7bn acquisition of FiberCop, which includes Telecom Italia's fixed network assets, by US alternative investment giant KKR.
The sectors
.Other sectors in which Italy excels, such as luxury brands, are also contributing to the recent upturn in the value of M&A's assets. The aggregate value in the consumer sector increased by 43% to EUR 5.2 billion in 2023, largely due to a couple of deals involving luxury brands such as Valentino and the Florence Group.
Instead, the number of Italian transactions registered in 2023 was 1,181, down 10% from 2022 but still well above pre-pandemic levels, a sign that investor confidence is still relatively high. Although the total value of M&A deals for 2023 (EUR 63.3bn) was down 42% from EUR 108.3bn in 2022, it should be noted that the 2022 figure was affected by the EUR 42.7bn acquisition of Atlantia by Blackstone and Edizione.
The estate and private equity
.Excluding this truly unique transaction in terms of size and value, the performance in 2023 appears less negative, with a less significant contraction compared to the previous year's figures.'The market's substantial resilience last year was fuelled, in part, by the strong interest of private equity funds in the telecommunications sector, reflecting Italy's efforts to bridge the digital divide, and in the luxury sector, which has always been one of our country's sectors of excellence,' commented Francesco Gatti, Equity Partner at Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici.
"We are currently seeing several signs coming from the Italian M&A market that suggest that 2024 will be a year of recovery, especially if interest rates start to normalise," added Carlo Pavesi, Equity Partner at Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici. The year-on-year decline mirrors a European trend, where we have seen similar declines in both transaction volume and value.
