SMEs and extraordinary finance, from Intesa Sanpaolo 11 billion in 5 years

The instruments of extraordinary finance as a lever to accelerate the dimensional growth of Italian SMEs and their international competitiveness, in a historical phase in which geopolitical uncertainties, trade tensions and profound technological transformations require companies to invest heavily in order to continue growing.

At the end of January, Intesa Sanpaolo's Banca dei Territori division will kick off a roadshow that, until March, will touch seven cities throughout Italy to present local entrepreneurs with the strategy that the institution led by Carlo Messina has developed and consolidated in recent years to support SMEs in their operations through the use of structured finance, IPOs and M&A, effectively accelerating their development. These are classic investment banking tools, aimed, however, not only at large groups, but at the broader range of small and medium-sized enterprises that are customers of Banca dei Territori (with a turnover of up to EUR 350 million), which represent the vast majority of the Italian production system.

The initiative is aimed at a potential pool of over 6,000 Italian companies that, in terms of size and value, have the necessary characteristics to undertake development paths through extraordinary finance operations. An integrated advisory model that is unique in Italy, managed by a dedicated structure, born a decade ago from the collaboration between Banca dei Territori itself and IMI CIB (IMI Corporate&Investment Banking), which today has a team of 70 professionals and is preparing for new synergies also with the group's Wealth Management.

The details of this strategy and the potential of these instruments will be presented during the stages of the roadshow (which will start in Monza at the end of the month and will continue in Naples, Modena, Siena, Bari, Vicenza and Novara) by the head of the Banca dei Territori Division, Stefano Barrese, together with representatives of the IMI CIB division and a number of entrepreneurs who have already embarked on extraordinary finance paths, with the aim of broadening the knowledge and adoption of these instruments by medium-sized businesses. "Intesa Sanpaolo acts as a bridge between the real economy and finance, accompanying entrepreneurs in designing the best growth strategies," explains Barrese. Since 2020, we have provided our clients with an average of more than EUR 2 billion a year in structured finance transactions, developing 35 extraordinary finance transactions between M&A and IPOs'.

The new initiative is in addition to the numerous activities implemented by the group in support of small and medium-sized Italian enterprises, including the missions abroad with which the division headed by Barrese accompanies SMEs and start-ups on strategic markets to foster their international development. "The relationship that binds us to the territory and entrepreneurs is an asset for our bank," adds Barrese. Hence the synergic work within the group and with the ecosystem of economic diplomacy, represented by Simest, Sace and Ice, which allows us to combine the best skills at the service of the international success of our SMEs. We have accompanied, trained and launched many companies and start-ups with our missions in Silicon Valley and the United Arab Emirates, translating their international growth plans into action'.