Few stamps of approval are worth more in Italy than those of its central bank. So it is easy to imagine the private equity community’s pleasure when, earlier this year, Mario Draghi, the Bank of Italy’s governor, described private equity’s role in financial markets as positive. More than one-third of initial public offerings (IPOs) over the past decade came from private equity portfolios, he said.
Mr Draghi neatly summed up why private equity is good for Italy: “Specialist intermediaries in risk capital can help small and medium-sized firms to grow, contribute to the strengthening of management, encourage access to the stockmarket and smooth generational change.”
