Abstract
The present study investigates whether Private Equity (PE) funds are supporting Smart cities’ development in Italy. Initial evidence is given regarding the presence of a convergence of financial resources towards businesses operating in the economic sectors considered to be strategic to the development of the cities of the future. Details regarding the major features of the phenomenon are provided. To perform the research, a sample of 1,369 PE transactions undertaken by Italian and foreign investors in Italy in the years 2015-2021 was examined. The final output of this paper is a descriptive qualitative and quantitative analysis, whose main contributions are as follows. It emerges that companies operating in the industries that are key to the grounding of smart cities attracted substantial attention in the reference period. Infrastructures, firms providing ecological services and businesses supporting digitalization processes have catalyzed the greatest share of capital. Most operations have been conducted by International PE players and about half the investments have involved companies located either in Lombardy or in Lazio. Moreover, the buyout approach has been the most frequently adopted strategy when launching the examined deals. Finally, a significant growth of the entry multiple EV/EBITDA was recorded in the investigated period, suggesting soaring competition as well as PE players’ acknowledgement of the centrality of smart cities to the country’s future development