Private capital

Benetton, 21 Invest merges with Tages

Edizione has reached an agreement to merge its private capital activities with the Milan-based company: 21Next is born with 3 billion under management

by R.Fi.

1 December 2025

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The Governance of 21Next
The reorganisation of the Benetton galaxy

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The Benetton family is consolidating its private capital activities through an integration with Tages, as part of a plan to triple its assets under management to €10 billion in the next five years. Edizione, the family holding company, has in fact reached an agreement to create a newco, 21 Next, with Milan-based Tages and Alessandro Benetton's 21Invest. The new company, which will see Edition with a majority shareholding, will manage a total of around Euro 3 billion.

Tages, founded by Panfilo Tarantelli in 2011, has become an investor in the renewable energy sector in recent years, with EUR 1.4 billion invested in infrastructure and energy transition. It has also recently launched a credit fund.

The governance of 21Next

Presiding over the new group will be Alessandro Benetton, 61, heir to the Venetian dynasty that owes its fortune to the United Colors of Benetton brand, while Panfilo Tarantelli, 70, co-founder of Tages, will assume the role of CEO.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Alessandro Benetton said that he sees asset management as an increasingly important component for Edizione and that 21 Next will seek to expand both organically and through further consolidation in private capital.

'We are launching this project at a very favourable time, because the private capital sector is going through a transition phase,' Benetton said, arguing that the days when buyout funds could generate high returns by simply increasing leverage and reselling companies 'are over'.

'Today, everything is more complex: there is a technological issue related to the impact of AI and a talent issue'. Edizione, he added, is better equipped to improve its portfolio companies operationally, thanks to its industrial history.

Under the agreement, Edizione will provide aninitial seed capital of EUR 500 million to the new company.

The reorganisation of the Benetton galaxy

Over the past 20 years, the Benetton family has repositioned its empire, founded 60 years ago, by shifting the centre of gravity from retail to infrastructure. Notable transactions include the acquisition, in 2003, of a controlling stake in the Italian motorway operator and, a few years later, of the company that manages Rome's Fiumicino airport.

Today, the infrastructure portfolio includes motorways in Latin America, the United States and India, as well as ports of call such as Nice Côte d'Azur.

In 2015, the family then sold its controlling stake in World Duty Free to Switzerland's Dufry and in 2023 also sold Autogrill to it. After the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa in 2018, a tragedy that claimed 43 lives, the Benettons exited the Italian motorway business and Atlantia, their infrastructure holding company, was renamed Mundys.

The incident had severely damaged the family's reputation in Italy. Alessandro Benetton worked to rebuild it, replacing almost the entire management and restructuring the group.

'I like the idea that this profound transformation of Edizione is happening not only because we have changed 80 per cent of the management and the scope of investments, but also because we are proposing something solid and lasting,' he said.