Venture capital, two options to unlock investments by pension funds and provident funds
Government at work on the amendment of the rules included in the Competition Law
2' min read
2' min read
The most effective way to make Italian start-ups grow is still uphill. Evidence of this is the government's laborious search for a way out of the regulatory impasse in which the plan to push pension funds and private pension funds to invest in venture capital funds has ended.
A rule to multiply investments by institutional players was included in the last competition law, but the latter consider it too complicated and impracticable. Then of course, the real technical objections should be distinguished from the historical reluctance of pension funds and social security funds to allocate a mandatory share of their qualified investments to venture capital, something the government has been trying to impose for some time.
The rule in question stipulates that these entities may continue to benefit from the current tax exemption on financial income from qualified investments only if they allocate at least 5 per cent of the previous year's amount to venture capital funds, a quota that is to rise to 10 per cent from 2026. Too tight a time frame, according to the operators involved. At this point, the Ministry of Business and Enterprise is studying a correction in extremis to allow the calculation to be based only on binding commitments to make investments, and not on those already made. Without a change - according to what has been submitted to the ministry by the sector associations - it would be very difficult for pension funds and funds to select a basket of venture capital funds on which to reach the thresholds set, according to the law's tight timetable
There are at least two hypotheses for action. The first would lead to unblocking the game in one of the next measures. The second option is to clarify the concept with a mere interpretation. Certainly at stake, according to the calculations of the ministry itself, is a quantum leap hitherto only dreamed of by venture capital. To multiply by more than six times, from just over 300 million (estimate by The European House Ambrosetti) to 2 billion euros, the push of pension funds and funds in favour of venture capital.
