Asset management, let it not be said that Pirates support the real economy
Rather than supporting the productive fabric, banks finance themselves
While equity Pirates continue to empty out, bond Pirates have held their own over the past three years with consistently positive monthly inflows. And while the share of equity PirIs aimed at SMEs has always been marginal, that invested by bond PirIs in minibonds and bonds of small and medium-sized enterprises is almost nil.
The confirmation comes from the survey carried out by Plus24, with the help of the Mpower.finance platform, on the individual securities present in the portfolios of the more than 50 bond Pir on the market. A glance at the list of bonds chosen by the managers clearly shows that the PIRs are not fulfilling their original mission of channelling household savings towards SMEs. Rather than supporting the productive fabric, banks are financing themselves. It is not difficult to find bank-based management companies investing in their own group's bonds.
So much for the growth engine of smaller capitalisation and unlisted small companies. The more than EUR 5 billion managed by the bond Pir are cannibalised by issues of the largest companies, mainly large banks, present on the Piazza Affari list. The most popular among managers are bonds issued by Intesa Sanpaolo, which are present in the portfolios of 38 bond Pir for a countervalue of over 350 million euro. A good 82 million (about a quarter of the total) are invested in Intesa Sanpaolo bonds by Pir managed by Eurizon Capital, the management company of the same banking group.
This is followed by issues by Banco Bpm (297 million), Bper (270 million), UniCredit (266 million), Assicurazioni Generali (237 million), Enel (190 million) and Mediobanca (186 million). And the list could go on. In any case, no bank is denied a slice of the cake, in terms of assets under management, represented by the PIRs.
Overall, 40.8% of bond assets are invested in bonds of financial groups, 3.3% in issues of parastatal entities or publicly controlled companies (Cdp, Poste Italiane, Ferrovie dello Stato, Rai, Amco and Istituto per il credito sportivo) and only 3% in BTp. All the rest in corporate bonds issued by large companies operating, first and foremost, in the energy, utilities and infrastructure sectors, where Mundys (formerly Atlantia), Eni, Snam, Terna, Autostrade per l'Italia, Fibercop, Prysmian, Webuild, Inwin and Iren dominate the scene in addition to Enel.
