The moka pot just got sold to China — and Italy barely noticed

I’ve been using the same stovetop moka pot since university – a dented, aluminium Bialetti that’s more ritual than appliance. It’s slow, it gurgles, it occasionally burns the coffee, but it feels like the right way to start the day. A small nod to European elegance before opening 87 unread emails.

So when I found out that the company behind this little octagonal icon had just been sold to a Hong Kong investment firm, I did what any self-respecting millennial would do: double-checked it wasn’t an AI-generated rumour, then spiralled down a rabbit hole of financial filings and industry news.

Bialetti – the name stamped on millions of stovetop espresso makers, a brand as synonymous with Italian mornings as biscotti and existential angst – was quietly acquired this week. But not by a rival coffee company or a European kitchenware giant. Instead, the buyer was NUO Capital, a Hong Kong-based investment firm backed by the Pao Cheng family, with ties to global luxury names like Prada and Ferrari. And in a twist that borders on parody, the deal was routed through a Luxembourg-based holding fund.

It’s a strange tale, not least because, in Italy, it barely registered. Bialetti isn’t just a company – it’s a cultural artefact. Invented in 1933 by Alfonso Bialetti, the moka pot brought the espresso experience into everyday Italian kitchens, transforming morning coffee from a public ritual into a personal one. By the 1970s, around 90% of Italian households owned one. The logo’s iconic moustachioed figure – modelled after Bialetti himself – became a national symbol.

But cultural status doesn’t pay the bills. Bialetti has struggled for years against the rise of capsule machines like Nespresso, a wave of inexpensive copycats, and shifting consumer habits. The company narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 2018, weighed down by debt and dwindling relevance. While it posted €141.2 million in revenue in 2023, profitability remained elusive.

Enter NUO Capital. On the surface, a luxury-focused Asian family office snapping up an old-school Italian coffee brand seems like a mismatch. But NUO isn’t your average investor. With stakes in fashion, design, and global supply logistics, the firm specialises in identifying underleveraged European heritage brands with the potential for global revival. 

Bialetti, for all its quirks, still carries global cachet. And NUO sees opportunity where others saw decline. In their hands, the moka pot can become more than a kitchen tool – it can become a lifestyle object for a generation obsessed with authenticity. Imagine limited-edition colourways, artist collaborations, influencer-led unboxings, and placements in high-end design boutiques. The moka pot rebranded as the Leica of your kitchen: tactile, nostalgic, undeniably cool.

But look past the marketing playbook and there’s a deeper geopolitical subplot at work. The sale of Bialetti is part of a larger pattern of foreign acquisition quietly reshaping Italy’s economic landscape. Over the last decade, iconic Italian firms like Bulgari, Pirelli, and Ferretti Yachts have slipped under foreign control – often without much public pushback. These aren’t just distressed sales; they’re accumulations of cultural and industrial capital slowly moving offshore.

Italy’s open-door regulatory approach doesn’t help. Unlike France or the US, where laws exist to protect “strategic” national industries from foreign takeovers, Italy’s framework is looser. That makes it fertile ground for long-view investors hunting undervalued brands with emotional resonance.

Adding to the irony is the financial choreography of the deal. Rather than a straightforward acquisition, NUO’s purchase was channelled through a Luxembourg fund – a time-tested method for trimming tax and sidestepping regulatory friction. Which means this beloved, proletarian Italian icon now sits on the balance sheet of a tax-efficient European holding company.

Still, this could be the moka pot’s lifeline. With fresh capital, sharper branding, and access to new markets, Bialetti might reinvent itself not as a budget brewer, but as a retro-chic status symbol. Millennials and Gen Z, raised on pour-overs and Pinterest, are already primed for it. In a world of push-button convenience, the moka pot stands out by demanding attention. It’s affordable but aspirational, niche but iconic, and has the kind of visual clout that plays beautifully on Instagram grids and TikTok tutorials.

Back in my kitchen, the Bialetti sputters away. I’ve resisted the siren song of Nespresso pods and overpriced smart brewers. And now, this old-school stovetop relic is technically owned by billionaires halfway across the world. There’s something oddly poetic about that: a 1930s Italian invention, saved by Hong Kong capital via Luxembourg tax law, still making slightly burnt espresso for a distracted millennial before yet another Zoom call.

And maybe that’s the secret to its staying power. It’s not just how you brew the coffee. It’s who owns the story behind the pot—and how they plan to sell it next.