Minibonds: small issue appeal returns in 2025

Italy's minibond market returned to growth in 2025: after the setback of 2023, the recovery begun in 2024 continued. In 2025, for the second year running, there was a recovery both in the number of issues (214, +5% compared to 2024) and in the countervalue raised with 2 billion (+32%, the same growth as in 2024). Since 2013, the total value reached by issues is 14.60 billion for a total of 1,468 companies

These are the main findings of the Minibond 2025 Observatory of the School of Management of the Milan Polytechnic, which had predicted the recovery. The contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises alone, which has resumed growth, amounted to 146 issues, raising more than EUR 1 billion, surpassing the large companies that had instead taken the lion's share in 2024. Also record-breaking was the increase in countervalue, which averaged EUR 9.58 million in the second half of the year. On the other hand, issues and inflows of ESG minibonds declined. The market could continue to grow in light of the possibility of requesting support from the State Guarantee Fund (up to 80%) even for securities placed through crowdfunding platforms.

"In the coming months, the minibond market in Italia could develop even further, especially in a scenario of a further reduction in interest rates," explains Giancarlo Giudici, head of the Observatory and of the Report Minibond 2026 (twelfth edition). What is needed, however, is the arrival of new specialised players that are able, on the one hand, to intercept capital in search of returns and, on the other, to support SMEs in raising capital for growth, especially in those regions of the country where minibonds are still little known".

Minibonds are debt securities (bonds and promissory notes) of less than EUR 50 million issued by non-listed Italian non-financial companies (particularly capital companies or cooperatives with their own operations). As is well known, they represent an alternative and complementary form of financing to bank credit in order to diversify sources and access the competitive market of professional investors, mostly in preparation for more complex transactions such as private equity or listing on the stock exchange.

The Observatory's database now counts 2,189 minibond issues made since 2013 and in 2025 identified 196 Italian companies that placed 214 minibonds (131 are new issuers, up from 123 the previous year), slightly up from 174 in 2024 for a total of EUR 2.01 billion from (the previous year there were 208). Of these, 132 (67%) are SMEs. Looking at turnover, companies with revenues of up to EUR 10 million increased, while those between EUR 25 and 100 million fell. The most represented sector remains manufacturing (54 issuers), followed by financial holding companies (32), construction (19), trade (17) and IT services (12).