Anna Gervasoni

The present study investigates whether Private Equity (PE) funds are supporting Smart cities’ development in Italy. Initial evidence is given regarding the presence of a convergence of financial resources towards businesses operating in the economic sectors considered to be strategic to the development of the cities of the future. Details regarding the major features of the phenomenon are provided. To perform the research, a sample of 1,369 PE transactions undertaken by Italian and foreign investors in Italy in the years 2015-2021 was examined. The final output of this paper is a descriptive qualitative and quantitative analysis, whose main contributions are as follows. It emerges that companies operating in the industries that are key to the grounding of smart cities attracted substantial attention in the reference period. Infrastructures, firms providing ecological services and businesses supporting digitalization processes have catalyzed the greatest share of capital. Most operations have been conducted by International PE players and about half the investments have involved companies located either in Lombardy or in Lazio. Moreover, the buyout approach has been the most frequently adopted strategy when launching the examined deals. Finally, a significant growth of the entry multiple EV/EBITDA was recorded in the investigated period, suggesting soaring competition as well as PE players’ acknowledgement of the centrality of smart cities to the country’s future development

Urban transformation represents an increasingly urgent goal in accelerating the transition towards innovative, sustainable and digital cities to make them more efficient and smarter. An extraordinary availability of public funding is currently mobilized to this effect; however, it is not sufficient to pursue sustainability goals. Since the acceleration of smart city growth requires a huge amount of investment, venture capital could play a key role in launching the smart city of the future. In our research we analyse the role of venture capital as a promoter and accelerator of industrial sectors through the financing of innovative start-ups and funding disruptive technologies, which impact the smart city. Descriptive analysis was conducted based on data collected through venture capital deals carried out in Italy during the period 2015 to 2021, as monitored by VeM, selecting specific industries which impact the smart city: digitalization, ecological transition, financial services, healthcare and mobility. The results suggest that there is an overall growth of interest from venture capitalists in investing in the smart city, which makes the market more dynamic and ready to accelerate urban transformation. This represents an impressive trend that may be good groundwork for further growth in the years ahead.

International GPs play a very important role in the private equity market, managing huge amounts of money and investing in different countries. In this scenario, Italy has a significant position and in recent years, it has seen a growth both in the number of investments and in the number of international GPs investing in the Country. The importance of Italy has increased also in comparison with other European countries, representing one of the main target for international players. They chose medium and large sized companies, especially based in the North of the Country, and acquire them through majority deals. In terms of sectors, in Italy GPs invest mostly in traditional sectors, such as industrial products and services and fashion, but also in innovative ones, such as ICT and healthcare.

Over the last thirty years, the risk capital market in Italy experienced an important evolution. AIFI, the Italian Association of Private Equity, Venture Capital and Private Debt, contributed in structuring and accompanying this process in all of its relevant stages. This paper traces the key moments of this path by analyzing the main issues from a market point of view, but also by considering the most important steps in relation to the growth of both the association and the fiscal and legal framework at the national and international level.

Questo lavoro analizza l’industria del private equity e venture capital in Italia. In una prima parte si descrivono le caratteristiche e l’evoluzione del mercato italiano. In una seconda parte il lavoro propone i risultati di un’indagine effettuata attraverso interviste alle imprese e questionari rivolti agli intermediari, effettuati dalla Banca in collaborazione con l’AIFI (Associazione italiana del private equity e venture capital), al fine di ricavare informazioni sulle caratteristiche dei contratti utilizzati, delle imprese finanziate e degli intermediari. Infine, si discutono i principali fattori di ostacolo al maggiore sviluppo del private equity in Italia, utilizzando le informazioni ricavate dai questionari rivolti agli intermediari.

Road pricing systems are designed and realize to reduce the congestion in the urban metropolitan areas. This idea is based on classics economic principles: an increase in the price of a good generally corresponds to a decrease in the demand for that good. In this view, the payment of a toll helps the alignment between supply and demand of mobility. The introduction of road pricing systems imposes to the driver the payment of a toll that finds a correspondence in the external costs that it generates like global warming, gas emission, acoustic pollution, the costs of incident, and the cost of lost time because of traffic jam. The introduction of a road pricing system, moreover, generates an increase in the fiscal pressure. Therefore, the construction of an efficient model of road pricing evaluation must consider, beyond to maximization of the profit (typical of financial approach), also the reduction of the traffic until wished level. The models generally used in these cases are inspired to those used in project finance, while we think its useful combine maximization of financial approach under constrain of maximization of transportation effects.