Giovanni Battaglia

The area

Italy currently has over 3 million small and medium size enterprises, and the country holds, traditionally, a comfortable trade balance. In 2013, exports reached roughly €400 billion euros.

The northern area of the country is an export powerhouse, perhaps the best of the 4 economic engines of Europe (Lombardy in Italy, Baden -Wurttemburg in Germany, Rhone-Alpes in France, and Catalonia in Spain). It boasts about €95 billion in exports annually, and has a heavy concentration on manufacturing and exports.   

A dynamic environment

   Though   the current emphasis   in Italy is on  manufacturing and so called "old economy",  the country is extremely innovative in applications  to traditional   production techniques.   In the last 40  years it has been at the  forefront in electronics, mechatronics and  new materials. 

There has been a flurry of activity in the last 20 years in biotech and nanotechnologies.

Currently,  many sectors and companies, though sound,  are economically  undervalued,  with company valuations  lower than a few years ago.  The high mergers and acquisitions activities in the mid -2000's is expected to return in the next few years.  Private equity and private debt markets  and instruments   are increasing at  a healthy rate also.

We expect a large increase   in acquistions by foreign based companies in the next  few years.