Italian Government sponsored new asset management company, Fondo Strategico Italiano sgr (Cassa depositi e Prestiti group), is targeting a 2 billion euros total fundraising for its first fund focusing mid market Italian companies, after having reached more than one billion euros in a first closing in the last few days (see here the press release).
Moreover, thanks to co-investment agreements which are going to be signed with some international sovereign funds investing in the new veichle (named FSI Mid‐Market Growth Equity Fund), total dry powder will reach 4 billion euros.
The new fund’s anchor investor is Italy’s investment organization Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, which is going to take a 25% committement on the total funds raised. Last October, Cdp’s chairman Claudio Costamagna, speaking at a conference said that “The new Fondo Strategico Italiano will have 2 billion euros to spend, of which 500 million euros will come from Cdp” (see here a previous post by BeBeez). All that happens after a significant re-organization of the old Fondo Strategico Italiano spa in Spring 2016 when assets under management of that veichle were distributed to Cdp Equity and FSI Investimenti spa while creating the new asset maangement company, Fondo Strategico Italiano sgr (see here the press release).
The first closing of the new fund saw the committement of some sovereing funds with the Kuwait and Singapore (Temasek) ones among them. Other committements came from European banks and insurance companies, foundations and asset managers, with total foreign committements topping 60% of the toal capital raised. The final closing will saw tha partecipation of a Qatar‘s soveraing fund and of some major Italian, European and Asian family offices.
Fondo Strategico sgr’ ceo Maurizio Tamagnini will be joined by chief investment officer Barnaba Ravanne and by the investment director Marco Tugnolo.
The management team is already at work studying dossier relating to Italian mid size companies with a turnaround of at least 200 million euros which can reach a 100 million euros ebitda in few years inorder to be listed on the Italian Stock Exchange with a sufficent floating capital to attract significant interest from international investors.
FSI’s team counts 23 professionals who are supported by industrial partners who have a long track record as top anagers is some major industrial companies: Umberto della Sala (Foster Wheeler), Michele Norsa(Ferragamo), Eugenio Razelli (Magneti Marelli).
