Filse aims to create an equity fund with private individuals

To create an equity fund that brings together public and private investments and enables not only a strong leverage effect but also effective interaction with regional financiers that have similar structures. This is one of the projects of Filse (Finanziaria Ligure per lo Sviluppo Economica), which is now 50 years old and looking to the future.

An in-house company of the Liguria Region, together with its subsidiaries and investee companies, it is the technical body that supports and assists the Ligurian territorial authorities in implementing policies and interventions to support the area's economic system. It is currently headed by its president Gerolamo Taccogna and general manager Ugo Ballerini.It also acts as the holding company for a system of specialised companies, such as Ligurcapital (for participation in business capital for SMEs), Liguria International (for internationalisation and territorial marketing), and Ire (for the development of new infrastructures, strategic works and energy policies). It also has the Liguria Research Centre, for statistical studies of the local economy, and the Bic (Business Innovation Centre), a business incubator certified by the Ministry of Enterprise.

The foundation of Filse dates back to 1975 and, since it was entrusted with the mission of intermediate body for the management of EU funds for businesses, the company has handled 46 thousand applications for over EUR 2.3 billion, granting subsidies of EUR 1.3 billion and disbursing almost EUR 900 million to businesses. As of the end of 2019, then, in the area of social economy for families, the Ligurian finance company has received 135 thousand applications for support, disbursing 101 thousand of them for EUR 91 million; while, in the social-health activity, it disburses contributions to 5 thousand families with frail persons, for EUR 50 million per year.

And now the company is still looking ahead. Taccogna and Ballerini tell the story. 'Compared to what Filse is already doing,' they say, 'in the immediate future we see an important round with the new programming period of the EU funds, from 2027 onwards, and with all the organisational set-up that follows. We, like the finances of the other regions, have the ambition of maintaining a role in the management of these structural funds. Because one hears that the Pnrr experience has made one reflect and hypothesise a greater centralisation in disbursement; therefore it is a question of reclaiming a role based on the contribution of the Regions. If we are talking about the development of Liguria, obviously the Liguria Region must be the reference player'.

On the other hand, they continue, "we would like to have the possibility of supporting economic development also in terms of equity, of partnerships with private investors, to encourage the healthy growth of companies that have potential, and that are able to generate employment, income directly and also induced. The ideal is to find virtuous investment destinations with which to produce a leverage effect; that is, public money combined with the interest of the market, which also puts in private resources. In this way, the return, i.e. the impact on the company and the sector in which the intervention is made, is much greater than the value of a simple public contribution. Unity is strength'.