Italy is set to launch a sovereign fund to support strategic companies and value chains.
(Bloomberg) — Italy is set to launch a sovereign fund to support strategic companies and value chains.
The fund will help “channel financial support from pension funds, the insurance sector, public and private entities,” Business Minister Adolfo Urso said at an event in Rome on Monday evening. A draft law that includes the creation of the fund will be introduced at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Urso said.
The fund will be able to inject capital, at market conditions, in companies that are considered crucial to ensure the access of Italian industry to critical raw materials or energy.
The move comes as Italy and the European Union are stepping up their actions to counter China’s growing economic clout, particularly on key supply chains from semiconductors to green energy technologies. Italy also supports the project of creating an EU sovereign fund to support the bloc’s industrial policy.
Read More: EU Reaches Initial Agreement on Blueprint for China Relations
France contributed €500 million ($545 million) to a new, €2-billion fund created by private equity firm InfraVia Capital Partners aimed at boosting Europe’s access to minerals critical for the energy transition.
Besides the fund, the Italian government is set to present a raft of measures to support “Made in Italy” on Thursday, including the creation of high schools aimed at responding to the dearth of skilled workers in Italy’s luxury and design sector.
The fund can help “ensure that champions in some sectors remain Italian-owned,” said Matteo Lunelli, who heads the luxury industry association Altagamma. “We are on a path that’s heading toward aggregation, it’s an important path because large groups are those that manage to be effective in international competition.”
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