Wikipedia

CDP Equity

Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Equity S.p.A. (formerly Fondo Strategico Italiano S.p.A.; FSI S.p.A.) also known as CDP Equity S.p.A., is a majority state-owned Italian sovereign wealth fund established in 2011. Its purpose is to invest in strategic Italian companies to help them to compete globally.

CDP Equity S.p.A.
Native name
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Equity S.p.A.
FormerlyFondo Strategico Italiano S.p.A.
Company typeSocietà per azioni
IndustryFinancial services
Founded2011; 14 years ago (2011)
FounderCassa Depositi e Prestiti
HeadquartersPalazzo Busca,
Milan
,
Italy
Area served
Italy
Key people
ServicesMerchant bank
Increase €249.446 million (2014)
Total assetsIncrease €5.564 billion (2014)
Total equityIncrease €4.833 billion (2014)
OwnerCassa Depositi e Prestiti (100%)
ParentCDP Group
SubsidiariesOpen Fiber
Ansaldo Energia
Fincantieri
Websitewww.cdpequity.it
Footnotes / references
In separate financial statements[1]

History

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The fund was established in 2011 as Fondo Strategico Italiano.[2]: 25  Its mandate was to invest in strategic Italian companies to help them to compete globally.[2]: 25  The fund's activity is restricted to healthy and profitable Italian businesses, with solid growth prospects, in need of capital injection to enlarge their business and be competitive on a global scale.[3] The initial capital of the fund totalled €1 billion, with 90% of this sum contributed by CDP and 10% from Fintecna. The CDP is ready to inject a total amount of €4 billion.[3]

The fund was set up by the state-controlled lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) on the directive of Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti, emulating a similar fund in France, allegedly after French dairy company Groupe Lactalis SA made a successful takeover bid for Parmalat.[4]

The fund become a member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and signed up to the Santiago Principles on best precise on managing Sovereign Wealth Funds.[5][6][7]

In September 2011, Maurizio Tamagnini, formerly a top investment banker at Merrill Lynch, was hired as the CEO of the fund.[4] The position of chairman is filled by Giovanni Gorno Tempini, who was also the CEO of CDP, and is now its chairman of the board.[8]

On 31 March 2016, Fondo Strategico Italiano was renamed into CDP Equity.[9]

On 5 August 2016, Bank of Italy withdrew its 20% stake from CDP Equity.[10]

Atlantia’s 88% share in motorway company Autostrade per l'Italia was bought in 2021 by a consortium of CDP Equity, Blackstone and Macquarie Group. CDP Equity holds 51% of the consortiums shares, while each other member holds 24,5%.[11][12]

CDP Equity, together with other CDP Group subsidiaries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Khazanah Nasional in October 2023.[13]

CDP Equity holds a majority of the shares in power generation equipment supplier Ansaldo Energia as well as in shipbuilding group Fincantieri.[14][15][16]

Investments

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In May 2012, the Italian Strategic Fund stated that it would give financial backing to help fund a project that will bring fiber-optic cable to Italy's main cities, as part of the country's attempt to increase high-speed internet connectivity. The €4.5 billion project, led by fibre-optic company Metroweb (was a subsidiary of F2i First Fund via F2i Reti TLC) will receive an initial €200 million from Fondo Strategico Italiano through F2i Reti TLC. There is also an option for the fund to provide a further €300 million.[17]

In May 2012, the Fondo Strategico Italiano acquired an 18.6% stake in biopharmaceutical company Kedrion S.p.A. from holding company Sestant S.p.A. for a total of €150 million. In addition, the Fondo Strategico Italiano has an option to acquire a majority stake in Kedrion from Sestant.[18]

Also in May 2012, the defence and aerospace group Finmeccanica agreed to sell its 14% stake in aero-engine parts maker Avio to the Fondo Strategico Italiano. According to Finmeccanica, the deal is subject to Avio being listed on the Milan stock exchange before the end of 2012.[19] In November 2012, Prime Minister Mario Monti, signed with the Government of Qatar a €2 billion development project; the main investor is Qatar Holding.[20]

It was announced in March 2014, that the Fondo Strategico Italiano had made a non-binding offer for a 30% stake in the Spanish olive oil producer Deoleo.[21]

In July 2016 Enel Open Fiber acquired Metroweb from F2i SGR and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. However, CDP Equity also acquired 50% stake in Open Fiber.[22][23][24] In 2021, CDP Equity and Macquarie bought the remaining 40% of Open Fiber not owned by the companies. CDP Equity raised its shares to 60% and Macquarie to 40%.[25][26]

In March 2021 CDP Equity and Eni launched the joint venture Green IT to develop solar and wind energy project for the next five years with an Investment of $957 million. 49% of the company is owned by CDP Equity and 51% by ENI.[27][28] In March 2023, Green IT and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners began developing three floating wind projects off the coast of Italy.[29] In April 2023, additional funds of €1.7 billion were agreed upon for GreenIT. The funds will be used for the development and construction of onshore and offshore plants as well as the re-powering of existing plants.[30][31][32]

References

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  1. ^ "2014 Bilancio" [2014 Annual Report] (PDF) (in Italian). Fondo Strategico Italiano. 19 May 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  2. ^ a b Liu, Zongyuan Zoe (2023). Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674271913.
  3. ^ a b SWF Institute. "Italian Strategic Fund". SWF Institute. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012.
  4. ^ a b Christopher Emsden (12 September 2011). "Tamagnini Named CEO of Italian Strategic Fund". Wall Street Journal.
  5. ^ International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds. "IFSWF Our members". Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  6. ^ CDPequity.it. "Invest with CDP Equity". Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  7. ^ "Santiago Principles Self-Assessment - CDP Equity SpA". Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Executive Profile: Giovanni Gorno Tempini". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013.
  9. ^ "FSI - About us".
  10. ^ "The Bank of Italy's capital withdrawal from CDP Equity (formerly FSI SpA)". Bank of Italy. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Exclusive: CDP consortium's bid to value Atlantia unit at 9 billion euros - sources". Reuters. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  12. ^ "EU Clears Sale of Atlantia's ASPI to Group Led by Italy's CDP". Bloomberg Law. 12 November 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  13. ^ "Khazanah and CDP Group collaborate for investment opportunities". The Star. 5 October 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  14. ^ "Gas crisis forces Italy's Ansaldo to raise $569 million in capital". Reuters. 30 November 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  15. ^ "99.2% of Fincantieri's 400 million capital increase subscribed". inforMARE (in Ukrainian). 12 July 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Portfolio". Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  17. ^ Stephen Jewkes, Luca Trogni and Danilo Masoni (28 May 2012). "Italy fund to inject up to 500 mln euro in fibre rollout". Reuters. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  18. ^ Research Views (28 May 2012). "Fondo Strategico Italiano Acquires 18.6% Stake In Kedrion From Sestant For $188 Million". Research Views. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013.
  19. ^ Stephen Jewkes and Hans-Juergen Peters (31 May 2012). "Finmeccanica to sell Avio stake to state-led fund". Reuters. Archived from the original on 1 June 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  20. ^ Doherty, Regan (19 November 2012). "Italy's Monti seals investment deal with Qatar". U.S.
  21. ^ "Italy strategic fund says made offer for stake in Spain's Deoleo". Reuters. 6 March 2014. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  22. ^ "OPEN FIBER PERFEZIONA L'ACQUISIZIONE DI METROWEB". www.enelopenfiber.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  23. ^ "OPEN FIBER: CDA APPROVA FUSIONE METROWEB". www.enelopenfiber.it (in Italian). Retrieved 27 January 2017.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ "ENEL ACCELERATES ON BROADBAND WITH METROWEB ACQUISITION". www.enel.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2016.
  25. ^ "Macquarie and CDP win EU approval for Open Fiber acquisition". Reuters. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  26. ^ Hardy, Stephen (15 November 2021). "European Commission approves CDP/Macquarie takeover of Open Fiber". Lightwave. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  27. ^ "Italy's Eni, CDP form joint venture to invest 800 mln euros in renewable energy". Reuters. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  28. ^ Ellichipuram, Umesh (12 March 2021). "Eni and CDP Equity to develop renewable energy assets in Italy". Power Technology. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  29. ^ "Three floating wind projects planned in Italy - The Energy Year". theenergyyear.com. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  30. ^ "Eni's Plenitude and CDP Equity commit to decarbonisation of Italy's electricity sector through GreenIT investment". EuropaWire. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  31. ^ Takyar, Sarthak (10 January 2024). "GreenIT, Galileo to build 140 MW of solar PV in Italy". Renewable Watch. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  32. ^ Kavitha (19 January 2024). "GreenIT and Galileo Reach Agreement for Eight Solar PV Projects in Italy". SolarQuarter. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
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