To whom are Eltifs sold? Only to wealthy savers
This is what emerges from a survey conducted by Plus24 on 30 intermediaries who create and place solutions that invest in illiquid assets
For years, private markets have been touted as the new way to make investors' portfolios perform better. A purpose to which the European legislator has also responded with the Eltifs (European Long-Term Investment Funds) that arrived in Italia in 2019. But it was above all the Eltif 2.0 version of 2023 that further 'democratised' a sector that had hitherto been the prerogative of institutional clients by lowering the investment thresholds (now possible from EUR 1) and concentration limits. Among the first products to arrive in Italia are those of Azimut (forerunner since 2020) Algebris, Eurizon, BlackRock, Amundi, Finint, Schroders, Anthilia, to name but a few.
Lack of transparency on data and numbers
In a nascent market, transparency should be the first rule, yet being able to get as correct a picture as possible of how large a pool and customer base there is has not been easy. Many operators have not even declared funding flows and customer types (see graphic on the side), such as UniCredit and Eurizon, which have been operating in the segment since the very first hour.
The market
In Italia, according to the latest Assogestioni data, at the end of 2025 Italian investors held EUR 4.5 billion in Eltif, making Italia the second largest market in Europe with the private debt category prevailing in terms of both assets and products. Let's face it, Eltif is not a product for everyone. It is complex and needs to be well understood. Yet some online distributors (Fundstore, Trade Republic and Scalable), and others, also present it as suitable for the small investor, with a minimum investment required of one, one thousand or 10 thousand euro.
Target customers
"We are in favour of distributing Eltifs to the retail public because it is one of the main innovations of recent years in the world of investments," explains Vania Serena, resp. Sales&Marketing of Finint Investments. "They are vehicles suitable for everyone, from the retail to the professional client, but on condition that the product has adequate characteristics based on the profiling and aptitudes of the individual. Azimut itself, with inflows of 2 billion euro since 2020, points out that 75% of its customers, and therefore also of those who have subscribed to Eltif, have portfolios of no less than 250,000 euro.
Among the most active management houses in the sector is BlackRock, which offers multi-alternative solutions for diversified access to the main asset classes. 'We are seeing significant interest in Italia,' BlackRock explains, 'with inflows in excess of 300 million and eight active distributors, ranging from large banking groups to networks of consultants and smaller entities. The interest comes primarily from private clients, who are conventionally those with invested portfolios of over EUR 500,000'.
