AIFI releases half year figures for

01 November 2005

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A survey conducted by the AIFI and PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals that in the first half of 2005, the Italian private equity and venture capital market saw 140 investments, reaching a total equity value of E1.205bn, more than twice the amount registered in the same period of 2004 (E488m). As for the number of investments, this registered an increase of 22% compared with the same period in 2004.Buyouts accounted for 82% of the total value figure and 26% of volume. Unlike previous years, buyouts came from investments in both medium and large enterprises, rather than just a few mega-deals. Expansion deals, on the other hand, were worth E173m, equal to 14% of the market value, but represented 51% of the total number of investments, thus confirming the predominance of this type of investment in the Italian private equity industry.According to AIFIâ€™s chairman, Giampio Bracchi: â€˜Results for the first half of 2005 show the health of the Italian private equity and venture capital industries in general. As anticipated the first months of 2005 saw the closing of important deals which had started earlier and, in addition to these, an important flow of new investing opportunities. However, somewhat disappointingly, start-up investments in the high-tech sector registered a further decrease.â€™In terms of sector distribution of target companies, numbers showed that Italian investors are mostly attracted by the retail industry, the food & beverage sector and by industrial products and services. As for the geographical distribution of transactions, investments in foreign enterprises registered a significant increase, while in terms of domestic deals, Northern Italy still dominates with over 77% of deal volume.A positive result for CapCorp 2005CapCorp 2005, the annual Spanish private equity and M&A conference, organised by the publishers of Capital & Corporate, took place on 18 and 19 October. The conference was very successful, with over 450 attendees from a variety of groups throughout Spain and Portugal. The outlook of both the speakers and those attending was extremely positive, given the incredible growth of Spanish private equity over the past year. In terms of the discussion groups, the conference looked at a variety of themes including auctions, secondary buyouts, Spanish fundraising, technology, investing in PYMES and opportunities in the Portuguese market. It also had a number of high-profile speakers, including Pedro de Esteban of The Carlyle Group and Carlos Mallo of Permira. The conference opened with a presentation by the Spanish association ASCRI, which revealed that Spain has moved into fourth place in the European private equity rankings behind the UK, France and Germany in terms of private equity activity.