Abstract
Since more than thirty years private equity has been representing an efficient instrument for supporting companies’ growth. Both Italian and international analysis demonstrate that private equity backed companies have higher performances as compared to other similar companies and investors provide not only financial resources, but also expertise and know-how. This paper aims at understanding the role of private equity in the so-called Made in Italy sector, composed of excellent companies, that export high quality products all over the world. The Italian private equity industry has always paid great attention on this kind of enterprises, especially operating in the so-called 4 F: Fashion, Furniture, Food and wines and Fabricated metal products and machinery. A study on more than 200 deals in the Made in Italy sector, shows that companies’ growth, in terms of revenue and employment, outperformed the same sector as a whole, thus fostering the economic growth of our Country.