Global investment giant KKR & Co. is officially shifting its strategy in Southern Europe from “fly-in, fly-out” to boots-on-the-ground. The firm has announced the opening of a new office in Milan, marking a major milestone in its European localization strategy.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!After more than two decades of managing its Italian portfolio from London, KKR is embedding itself directly into Italy’s financial capital. The goal? To capitalize on a surging private wealth market and forge deeper ties with the country’s rich ecosystem of family- and founder-owned businesses.
The Leadership Team
The new Milan hub will act as a direct bridge between KKR’s massive global platform and local Italian enterprises, driving activity across private equity, infrastructure, credit, and private wealth. Leading the charge are two key executives relocating from London:
- Marco Fontana (Partner, Infrastructure) will serve as the overall Head of the Milan office.
- Nicolò Della Casa (Director, Private Equity) will spearhead the firm’s localized private equity investments.
Context: A €10 Billion Track Record
While the physical office is new, KKR is already one of the most prolific foreign investors in Italy. Since 2005, the firm has deployed over €10 billion in capital across the country.
The move to Milan follows a series of massive, high-profile mega-deals that have recently reshaped Italy’s corporate landscape:
| Investment | Sector & Impact | Deal Scale |
| Telecom Italia (TIM) | Historic carve-out of the fixed-line network to create FiberCop, Europe’s first wholesale-only fiber network. | €19 billion |
| Enilive | Strategic 30% stake acquisition in Eni’s high-growth biofuel and energy transition business. | €3.6 billion |
| CMC | Core growth backing for the sustainable packaging and robotics automation provider. | Mid-Market Growth |
Why Milan, and Why Now?
The decision to formalize a local presence signals that KKR sees Italy as a primary growth engine, rather than just a destination for occasional opportunistic deals.
“Italy’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, with its depth of founder- and family-owned businesses across a broad range of industries, presents a distinctly attractive environment for KKR. Establishing a presence in Milan will allow us to engage more directly with these businesses.”
— Nicolò Della Casa, Head of Private Equity in Italy
The Bottom Line: By embedding senior dealmakers directly into Milan, KKR is betting that a hyper-local approach will give it a distinct edge in sourcing mid-market corporate deals, navigating complex domestic regulations, and capturing the massive wave of capital shifting into private markets across Southern Europe.
