Anna Gervasoni

Research on private debt has examined funds, contracts and returns; much less is known about the firms that receive direct-lending finance. This paper moves the analysis to the borrower side through a population-level study of Italian private debt transactions. It combines more than ten million Italian firm-year observations for 2013-2023 with proprietary deal data from the Italian Association of Private Equity, Venture Capital and Private Debt (AIFI), and estimates logit selection models to identify the characteristics associated with first-time private debt funding. The estimates reveal a sharply bounded borrower profile. Private debt investors favour larger, moderately profitable and moderately riskier firms with intermediate asset tangibility, while avoiding firms that are persistently loss-making, wholly intangible, highly collateralised or excessively risky. The evidence is consistent with private debt operating not as a simple substitute for bank lending but as a specialised contracting arrangement for firms whose risks are non-standard yet contractible: too opaque, growth-oriented or insufficiently collateralised for the lowest-cost bank segment, but sufficiently large and cash-generative to bear the fixed costs of due diligence, covenant design and monitoring.

Patents are the most important tool to protect innovation and support the value creation process in early-stage financing as well as in Private Capital investments. This work studies the growing body of academic literature concerning the relations between Private Equity, Venture Capital and patents and formulates a theoretical framework and an agenda for future research. We review the specific body of research resulting from the entwining of corporate finance and innovation management. Through a bibliometric analysis of the literature, we adopt a quantitative approach to develop a content analysis on the 292 articles found. We present the open debate related to the improvement of the metrics to proxy the technological value of a company's innovation, especially in relation to startups and venture capital investments. We assess the key contributions, thematic clusters and emerging themes, formulating a theoretical framework grounded on the state of research. Additionally, we highlight the lack of integration of findings on signalling before the investment and the strategic use of Intellectual Property Protection Mechanisms assets by the investor to create value during the holding period. Finally, we outline future venues of research in the study of the relations between investments in innovative companies and positive socio-economic externalities.

Come vivono oggi i giovani in Italia e in Europa? Quali paesi offrono loro le migliori opportunità; di lavoro, crescita e realizzazione personale? Il volume presenta i risultati di una ricerca condotta dall'Ufficio Studi LIUC insieme a FSI sul benessere socio-economico delle nuove generazioni, analizzando fattori come la qualità; dell'occupazione, l'adeguatezza delle retribuzioni rispetto al costo della vita e delle abitazioni, la possibilità; di fare impresa e la soddisfazione per il lavoro e per la vita in generale. Attraverso un insieme di indicatori originali, lo studio propone due strumenti innovativi di lettura della condizione giovanile: l'indice di maturità, che misura a quale età; si diventa di fatto adulti, e l'indice YES (Youth Enhancement Score), che confronta paesi europei e regioni italiane in termini di capacità; di attrarre e valorizzare i giovani. Un'analisi che offre dati, spunti e prospettive per comprendere meglio il rapporto tra le nuove generazioni e il loro futuro.