The total amount invested in 2009 by private equity and venture capital players operating in Italy was € 2.6 bln, representing a considerable slowdown in private equity activity (-52%) after the record values of 2008.  Although the number of investments was affected by the financial crisis as well, it recorded a limited decrease compared with what happened to volumes, with a total of 283 deals, -24% on the 372 deals of 2008. Target companies were 229.
   
In particular, as in the past years, the largest part of the total amount invested (€ 1,688 mln) flowed into buy-outs, despite a 41% decrease on 2008 figures. Turnaround deals recorded a significant growth and, for the first time, followed buy-outs in terms of invested amount (€ 416 mln) thanks mainly to a particularly large investment.
   
The largest part of investments was represented by expansion deals with 112 investments, down 16% on 2008. In a generally difficult context, positive signals came from the early stage segment that recorded a lower decrease compared with the other ones (-10% in number and -15% in invested amount) and followed the expansion segment with 79 deals.
   
In 2009, the fundraising activity was affected significantly by liquidity crisis and reported a 58% drop on 2008 figures, for a total of € 957 mln raised.
   
Divestment activity in 2009 was influenced by troubles on the financial markets that made way outs more difficult and had a significant impact on portfolio companies. Although in 2009 the divested amount, calculated at cost (not including capital gain) increased on 2008 figures (€ 1,821 mln in 2009 compared with € 1,185 mln in 2008), it must be underlined that 85% of total amount was represented by write offs. Write offs represented also the largest part of way outs, namely 39% of the total 143 divestments carried on.
   
Finally, as of 31 December 2009, the total portfolio of investors in Italy amounted to 1,226 active investments regarding 1,062 companies, for an equivalent value calculated at cost of € 19.5 bln. In particular, 93% of active investments regarded companies based in Italy and 67% of deals were made by private investors. At the end of 2009, the resources available for investments, net of pan-European and captive investors’ resources, were equal to about € 6.3 bln.