After Moncler, many have pointed the finger at private equity. Who rejects the allegations

We believed them out of the game. Or at least on the bench. Instead they are shuffling the cards on the table and ruining the party in Piazza Affari (while Prada goes to Hong Kong, some new freshmen would revitalize our list). Private equity firms have full coffers and a great desire (or need?) to make deals. Good for companies? Probably yes. Good for the financial markets? Definitely not, especially after episodes such as Moncler's step back a breath away from listing. “When you meet to talk about private equity – said Maurizio Dallocchio, president of the Nomura chair of corporate finance at Bocconi University – you get the feeling of being in a world surrounded by heavy guilt. Obviously there was some fault with the system but I am against the journalistic approach according to which the operations of these days are senseless and deprive the market of investment opportunities. Evidently there is a malaise, also with regard to the evaluations made by the market, which the funds exploit”. Dallocchio speaks during the meeting at Bocconi on "The role of private equity in times of crisis", which was attended by various industry experts, including Giancarlo Aliberti, CEO of Apax Partners Italia and Marco Samaja, CEO of Lazard Italia. But sitting next to Dallocchio was also Marco De Benedetti, managing director of Carlyle, the private equity firm involved in the sale of a 30% stake in Moncler to the Eurazeo fund. “The success of a company is also made by the role of the shareholder – he said – and private equity is nothing more than a different ownership model. And he knows how to play his role as shareholder, even in times of crisis, while this has not happened in other countries. Of course, we too made mistakes, but no different from other cases and from forms of ownership and it is not correct to associate the situation of companies that have had difficulties with private equity”. The explicit reference goes to the many Ligresti who have had problems despite being "family" shareholders. On the sidelines of the round table, De Benedetti then declared a possible return to the role of shareholder of Avio unlikely, the leading company in the aeronautics sector which, under the effect of Moncler (and before Rhiag) could choose to interrupt the path towards listing and pave the way for a new partner. Just as an interest in Ti Media of the Carlyle fund cannot be ruled out. "From an operational point of view, I don't deal with the activities that belong to the Cir group, I'm not the most suitable person to answer and I don't talk about things I don't deal with", he added in reference to the intentions of the rest of the family , his brother Rodolfo and his father Carlo. But how are private equity and how are they moving today, three years after the glories of 2007? For Anna Gervasoni, Aifi general manager who spoke at the conference, the world of private equity has not changed much and continues to be a protagonist. Of course, the average denomination of the operations is lower, the volumes are smaller, the leverage is more contained and the multiples are stable (unless the multiple of 12 times Moncler's ebitda and future operations push the bar higher ). “But private equity – says Gervasoni – sees its role strengthened in M&A, above all in the context of buy-out operations which still make up the lion's share compared to start-ups”. And in Italy it occupies a weighty position, albeit smaller than the finance numbers: the companies that private equity has in its guts represent a slightly larger segment than the Star (1,3 times the capitalization), 5,2. 2,4% of the Italian medium-sized business economy, 15% of the Fiat workforce and XNUMX% of the GDP. And there is still money to invest.