A positive year for the minibond market in Italy which consolidates and consecrates the instrument as a financing alternative for all unlisted companies, especially SMEs with growth projects and plans to support. The year 2019 recorded four records: 207 products placed, 183 issuers, of which 129 at their first experience on the capital market, an economic flow of around 1,18 billion euro, with a +21% compared to the previous year. These are the data reported by the report drawn up by School of Management of the Milan Polytechnic.
Research has identified 536 Italian companies (of which 58,6% PMI) that in 7 years, by 2012 to 2019, had placed minibonds (understood as debt securities issued by Italian non-financial companies). The report identifies the main players on the Italian market for each of the roles covered: from the advisor to the legal consultant, from the rating company to the arranger, up to the investors. In particular, Frigiolini & Partners Merchant and Banca Finint lead the ranking of arrangers of minibonds of less than 50 million euro by number of issues.
In first place, F&P and Finint with 33 issues each. F&P was also first in number of issues in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Finint structured 33 issues, of which 13 captive, originated and subscribed by the bank (in 2018 the transactions were all captive). In third place is Unicredit with 27 issues managed, of which 21 captive (in 2018 there were 14, all captive).
On the other hand, as regards the value of issues, Unicredit is at the top of the arranger rankings, at 227,88 million euros, of which 128,88 million from captive issues, followed by Banca Finint with 190,44 million. If we do not consider captive transactions, Banca Finint rises to first place with 149,8 million. Finally, if we look at the cumulative number of transactions under 50 million recorded since 2012, the first appears to be Banca Finint for a countervalue of 861 million.
According to the Observatory's database, 801 minibond issues were carried out by companies in 7 years, with a total nominal value of over 5,5 billion euros, if instead we consider net inflows, they drop to 4,75 billion.
“For 2020, our expectations for the minibond market are optimistic – he commented Giancarlo Giudici, head of the Observatory – We estimate a further increase in emissions and collection flows. However, given the numerous initiatives from the point of view of supply – added Giudici – it is important, at the same time, to stimulate demand in order to concretely support investments in innovation, technology and sustainability”.
