At the half-year stage, US dealflow was down sharply whilst China was least impacted. Megadeals declined although mid-market showed resiliency. Meanwhile, private equity's global M&A market share reached record level.

The Italian M&A market is likely to continue to struggle in 2020, although some signs of improvement could surface from 2021 onwards, according to deal makers polled by Mergermarket.

Cyber security in M&A deals and value creation strategies were just some of the topics discussed at the Italian M&A and Private Equity Forum. 

Four trends to watch in the face of a sharp decline in H1 2019. 

Private equity take-privates double over 12-month period

• Italian inbound and domestic M&A deal value remains stable
• PE buyouts see highest value since records began
• The consumer sector’s market share dropped 85.5% since 2017 from 50.2% to 8.8% in 2018

Emilio Zito, Head of M&A and Special Projects at EDF, took time to speak to Olivia Cummins about the progression of infrastructure investments ahead of this year's Italian M&A and Private Equity Forum.

• Valuation decrease a strong possibility
• Banking and retail particularly exposed to political risk
• Food and retail sectors to retain interesting margins

Political clouds have a Silvio lining.

We learned a lot at the 2017 Italian M&A and Private Equity Forum, take a trip through the interviews we held with some of the biggest names in the market to get the latest insights.  

• Italian M&A activity has increased 26% by value compared to 2016
• Inbound investment has surged in the consumer sector accounting for 50.1% of market share
• Italy has brought 15 IPOs to market worth EUR 3.4bn - 2.5x more than 2016

We sat down with Eugenio Morpurgo CEO and Founding Partner of Fineurop Soditic ahead of the 10th Annual Italian M&A and Private Equity Forum to find out what opportunities he sees in the Italian IPO market and to provide some advice for how companies can prepare for the regulatory scrutiny that come with an IPO.