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A Hong Kong-based private equity company has agreed on a deal to buy the Italian company Bialetti, inventor of the iconic moka pot.
NUO Capital, a Luxembourg-registered investment firm headed by Stephen Cheng, will pay €53 million (just over $60 million) for 78.6% of Bialetti’s shares. Cheng is a member of one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families.
Bialetti’s moka pot is an iconic and much-loved coffee brewer, popularized in the 1930s by the company’s founder, Alfonso Bialetti, and his son Renato. Much like the Chemex, a Bialetti moka pot is on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. A 2010 study found that 90% of Italian households owned one of the company’s brewers.
However, the Bialetti company has suffered in modern times as sales of capsule machines surged. Bialetti’s debt climbed to €90.3 million (nearly $106 million), leaving the current owners struggling to cope with the repayments. The company had been looking for a buyer since 2023, and at the end of last year, news outlets began reporting on a potential acquisition.
While private equity firms have been busy snapping coffee roasters and cafe chains, they have also targeted machine manufacturers and suppliers. Perhaps the most high-profile example was when JAB Holdings, which owns Peet’s and Stumptown, purchased Keurig Green Mountain in 2016. Other examples include Cortec Group buying coffee cleaning equipment brand Urnex in 2015, the Canadian private equity company Tiny Capital acquiring a controlling stake in AeroPress in 2021, and Digital Fuel Capital buying Seattle Coffee Gear in 2020.
The Bialetti deal still needs to be approved by the Italian government, and once that happens, NUO Capital plans to buy the company’s remaining shares. “We have lived through complex historical moments, but with passion, dedication and team spirit we have always managed to look ahead and grow the company,” Bialetti Industria president Francesco Ranzoni said in a press release. “Nuo’s entry now represents a strategic lever to further strengthen the brand and consolidate its positioning on foreign markets.”
