Fondo Italiano d’Investimento wants to become leading Italian venture capital fund

29/09/2015
The €1.2 billion investment fund Fondo Italiano di Investimento (FII), which focuses on SMEs, now aims to become the largest venture capital player in Italy in a country where seed money for new companies is sorely lacking.

Through a fund of funds focusing on venture capital promoted by state-backed lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), FII aims at leveraging up to €500-600 million in a market that on average invests no more than €80 million.
“Corporate innovation is rarely the result of research developed within a company,” said Innocenzo Cipolletta, the Chairman of Fondo Italiano di Investimento.
“Research can be subversive, overturning practices in the productive process. This is why big companies fund start-ups and venture capital funds to then seize the best idea in their sector of preference,” he said. “We want to be a market driver and cover an important sector currently lacking in Italy, bringing venture capital closer to the business world.”
The Fondo Italiano di Investimento is controlled by the Economy Ministry, the employers' association Confindustria, the Italian banking association ABI, CDP, as well as banking groups UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Istituto Centrale Banche Popolari.
Cipolletta unveiled plans to expand the Fund's activity now that more traditional initiatives such as private equity investments by the FII UNO Fund have been completed. FII UNO has invested more than €800 million in five years, €400 million of which directly invested in companies and €440 million in funds of private equity funds.
The fund of funds for venture capital is one of the two new initiatives that the Fund started in 2014 with support from CDP.
The first is a fund of funds investing in private debt. Since its launch, the fund of funds investing in private debt has already closed two deals worth €250 million and €295 million respectively for the purchase of mini-bonds and other debt from small and midsized companies (SMEs).
In the Italian market of private debt funds, only eight operators have so far moved to fundraising after the closing of their deals, raising a total of around €700 million.
“FII UNO was a successful operation,” Cipolletta said. “We carried out an industrial policy strategy, but with market tools.”
“These were investments in minority stakes to support development projects of companies with around €250 million of revenues that found it difficult to access banking loans and, for several reasons, to attract interest from private equity funds. The initiative went very well: of around €400 million invested, €100 million have already been reimbursed to investors, with an annual yield of 20%.”
The goal now is to involve large industrial groups.
“CDP supported us and provided €50 million, which can be increased to up to €100 million,” the chairman said.
“We are trying, with support from the fund but also from external parties, to get to €150 million. This will be our contribution to the fund, with a share of around 30%,” he said.
“At the same time, the funds will need to raise an additional €300-350 million. We have already done four investments of venture capital. Now, with initial €50 million, we have invested in three other funds and in a ‘seed' fund, together with FEI, which is called Caravella. Our message for industry is to take part in this project with a small investment, in order to use these tools to support research in their sectors of interest. Otherwise, the risk is that we will support venture capital and the new ideas will be bought by foreign companies.”

Fonte:http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/art/markets/2015-09-28/fondo-italiano-investimenti-cipolletta-175809.php?uuid=ACdTNF6&icmpid=boxhp

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