Aksìa, together with Px3 partners, invests in Valsa Group, leader in baked goods with 200 million

New ownership structure for Valsa Group, a prominent Bologna-based company in the baked goods sector with turnover of around 200 million euros. The company is joining a new fund.

The Italians at Aksìa Sgr and the English at Px3 partners are investing under a joint-control structure.

Who is buying and who is exiting

The amount allocated to the food company based in Valsamoggia (BO) has not been disclosed, but, as far as can be understood, this should mark the exit of London-based Pemberton, which had issued a cheque for 175 million euros in December 2025 to Valsa, when the company was already under Aksìa's aegis.

Indeed, it is reported that “the debt was provided by a group of lenders led by Pemberton, while Belnord Capital, an independent European firm specialising in private markets, acted as the cornerstone investor in Aksìa's 'continuation fund'.”

Valsa Group operates eight production plants across the country and serves companies active in more than 40 countries.

Valsa Group: 30 new products since 2021

The company has customers operating both in the retail channel and in food service, with a range of products including focaccia, panzerotti, pinsa, pizza and pizza bases, marketed predominantly in the private-label fresh products business. In addition, the Emilia-based group has launched more than 30 new products or variants since 2021.

The transaction is aimed at supporting Valsa Group's next phase of growth by accelerating its international expansion, broadening its customer base, increasing its production capacity, and continuing its innovation programme and the execution of selected M&A transactions.

More specifically, the financial structure was arranged through Aksìa CF I, a new continuation fund with fundraising of 200 million and managed by Aksìa itself; other participating entities are Aksìa Capital VI, Aksìa's latest flagship fund, and PX3 Fund I, PX3's first financial vehicle (or flagship fund).

Valsa Group's management, which reports to the chief executive officer, Marco Setti, has reinvested in the transaction.

The deal is the result of a strategy to build an industrial hub for bread-based products that began in 2020 with the acquisition of Valpizza, an international operator specialising predominantly in the production of frozen pizza, by Aksìa Capital V.

How the pizza & Co. hub came about

During 2021, Valpizza acquired La Pizza +1, based near Piacenza, after acquiring the Gorizia-based Megic Pizza.

Also thanks to this process, Valpizza, the core of Valsa Group, has increased its size tenfold, going from 20 million in turnover to almost 200 million currently, while progressively orienting its portfolio towards the premium fresh specialities segment, characterised by a faster pace of development.

Aksìa, founded by Marco Rayneri and Nicola Emanuele, who have worked together since 1997, has completed more than 80 transactions in Italy and abroad, investing more than 600 million euros through six funds.

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.