Four billion euros have been approved by the board of directors of the Italian investment fund chaired by Barbara Poggiali, capital that will be dedicated over the next three years to the launch of seven new instruments: four direct funds and three funds of funds.
Five investment sectors:
- Agri & Food,
- Made in Italy supply chains and excellence,
- Lifescience & HealthCare,
- Industrial Tech & Products,
- IT/Digital,
Objective: to increase the competitiveness of Italian SMEs, preferring partnerships and introducing innovations that contribute to the growth and evolution of the private capital ecosystem and the country’s supply chains of excellence.
All thanks to additional new capital that will be made available by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, through Cdp Equity, majority shareholder of the asset management company (sgr), which will be anchor investor of the new vehicles.
What the Italian Investment Fund (FII) does
With over 580 companies in its portfolio, including direct and indirect investments and 2.7 billion euros of assets under management, today FII is the largest institutional private capital investor in Italy, with a strategy focused on the real Italian economy, and a specific focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.
A public-private network that supports the growth processes of Italian small and medium-sized enterprises. There are two main areas of action, financially supporting the growth projects of Italian SMEs and encouraging the development of the Italian private debt market.
With a focus on funds aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Italy, with a turnover of less than € 500 million (and in particular with a turnover of less than € 300 million) with concrete growth prospects. Established in 2010 on the initiative of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and majority owned by CDP Equity (55%), and for the remaining shares by Intesa Sanpaolo (12.5%), UniCredit (12.5%), Enpam Foundation (5.5%), Enpaia Foundation (5.5%), ABI – Banca Italiana Association (3.5%), Banco BPM (3.25%) and BPER Banca (3.25%).
Fondo Italiano d’Investimento SGR’s objective is the management of closed-end investment funds dedicated to bringing patient capital to the system of Italian companies of excellence, combining the objectives of return on invested capital, in line with international benchmarks, with those of development. of the Italian production system.
What is the investment strategy of FII
The SGR has always acted following two investment guidelines:
- direct investment, or the acquisition of stakes in medium or small-sized companies, characterized by a significant growth potential at national and international level;
- indirect investment, through fund-of-funds platforms, by subscribing shares of other closed-end private equity and private debt funds, to favor the development of private capital markets and increase the availability of capital in favor of Italian SMEs.
In the field of direct investments, Fondo Italiano operates in the Private Equity market. Through dedicated funds, the objective of Fondo Italiano is to support small and medium-sized enterprises of the Italian economic fabric by participating in the capital of companies that present ambitious development plans at national and international level and operating in strategic and excellent sectors.
The vehicles dedicated to this area are Italian Consolidation and Growth Fund (FICC) and the new thematic vehicle Italian Agritech & Food Fund (FIAF), dedicated to strengthening the leadership of the Italian agri-food sector.
Generally through minority investments, Fondo Italiano is also present in the Tech Growth area. The vehicles of this area, Italian Technology and Growth Fund (FITEC) e Italian Fund for Technology and Growth Lazio (FITEC Lazio), are aimed at investments in small and medium-sized enterprises with high technological content and high growth potential that intend to face the scale-up phase.
The goal is to support growth and internationalization processes of companies that make technology their main critical success factor, also in order to increase the competitiveness of the national production system. The Funds of Funds area, on the other hand, is dedicated to indirect investments, ie investments in vehicles managed by other operators and active in the private equity, private debt and venture capital sectors.
To date, this area has eight funds of funds (also known as “FoF”). In particular, in recent years, between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, FoF Private Equity Italia and FoF Private Debt Italia have been launched, and more recently FII Private Equity Italia Due and FII Private Debt Italia Due.
With these platforms we propose to invest in private equity and private debt funds active on the Italian market whose strategies aim to strengthen the competitiveness of the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises at an international level, finance excellent supply chains and invest in the dimensional growth of companies, with a focus on those with a high technological content.
To date, FII manages a total of 13 funds.
On the plate, another 4 billion euros of assets under management by 2025
The new 2022-2025 Business Plan launched by the Board of Directors presents three essential innovations, the first concerns the creation of a direct fund dedicated exclusively to co-investment alongside asset management companies or fund relationship investors.
The growth driver partnerships and collaborations will be at the center of the activity of Fondo Italiano in the coming years, aligning the intervention methods of some of the instruments to what is already happening in the most advanced European private equity markets.
Secondly, the 2022-2025 strategy provides for the creation of a fund of funds for promotion of a secondary private equity market. An initiative, actually non-existent in Italy today, to support the prospective liquidity of investments in private capital through the creation of instruments that increase the possibility of buying and selling shares in Italian private capital funds.
Last, Fondo Italiano will launch the first fund of funds of impact investing, whose closing is expected in November thanks to the support of the cornerstone investor CDP, which will promote investments in funds that pursue measurable and intentional social objectives, as well as generating an economic return for investors. It will be the first Italian fund pursuant to art. 9 of the SFDR and will be aimed at the birth of this new asset class currently underdeveloped in Italy and instead already very mature and sophisticated in Europe.
The Fund led by the CEO Davide Bertone (who took office 5 months ago), explains in a note, will maintain the operational flexibility that has characterized its modus operandi to date, entering the shareholding structure of the companies in which it invests both with shares majority and minority, both in capital increase and in replacement. The SGR will launch a new fundraising plan that aims to raise over 2.5 billion over the three years for the complex of direct and indirect strategies.