Little Goldman Sachs are growing. Thanks to the vacuum around small and medium-sized Italian companies, the Roman-based Methorios Capital has conquered the leadership of placements on Aim Italia (where it has listed 14 companies) and is now aiming for the European leadership of mid-cap prices on multilateral trading systems. To do this, the multilateral trading platform managed by Euronext Paris has just landed across the border at the Alternext in Paris (negotiations started on 17 December). Founded in December 2004 and listed on Aim Italia since 2010, Methorios is a independent consultancy firm grew up betting on SMEs, assisting them in financial engineering and investing directly in their capital. in addition toAdvisory and merchant banking, however, has also entered the insurance brokerage and asset management. But to the co-founder Fabio Palumbo the term banker is definitely narrow. And not just because, he says in an interview with FIRSTonline, Methorios isn't technically a bank, nor does it intend to become one. But also because, he underlines, "We are not bankers, we are entrepreneurs".
What opportunities have you seized?
We had the courage to take a position on a market where nobody wants to be assessing the risk well and trying to grow. We are not mere bank bureaucrats respectfully speaking. We take a small risk either by investing in the company or by often getting paid to advise on the company's shares. We have the ability to put ourselves on the entrepreneur's side. Our competitors are no longer in Italy, they no longer operate in this segment which has remained uncovered.
Risk management and risk taking, especially entrepreneurial risk, hasn't been very fashionable lately.
We have made a great effort to try to support companies worthy of growth. We believe in the Italian system, which nobody does now. The capital we invest is ours, we have made several capital increases since listing, for a total of 80 million euros. However, we always remain in the minority, we do not enter corporate governance and we carry out joint growth. The portfolio turnover rate is more than 18 months. Or we act as advisory in operations which then allow other entrepreneurs to enter.
Has the Italian system repaid your trust?
The Roe of the last four years has been 13% per annum and if we take the last two years it is 33% per annum. The forecasts for the end of the year are also positive. The Italian entrepreneurial fabric is excellent, these are people who have international recognition. The problem is the exasperated level of taxation which is not congruous with the growth of the country.
In addition to advisory and investments, you are still expanding your activities.
The goal is to have recurring revenues over long periods. Up to now we have done well with extraordinary finance but we don't think it can always be like this. We have invested in insurance brokerage and asset management, where we plan to launch the first funds in 2015.
And also in the mini-bonds, where you have signed a partnership with Popolare di Vicenza. Will the sector be able to take off?
It's certainly not easy, companies need to be structured and certified, it's not yet fully operational but there's a highway ahead of us, we're in the start-up phase, we have several in the pipeline.
Now you have also landed across the border. Why Paris in particular?
We chose Paris because we are listing many companies on Euronext, just as we landed on Aim Italia despite having all the characteristics to go to the main segment but we wanted to set a good example. In France, the segment is more liquid and there are more investors. We are also preparing for listing four new companies, two in the mining sector and two in the infrastructure sector from sub-Saharan Africa and Italy. We are moving abroad to balance the risk in Italy, which is the country where we have invested the most even if we have also invested in the United States, Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Europe in general. We now aim to become the leader in the mid-cap segment at the European level.
Could growth come from M&A?
We are an open platform available to mergers, we do not exclude M&A, indeed we think about it every day. We have been solicited by other subjects since we were born, in fact several subjects older than us have entered the capital.
