Family businesses represent a fundamental component of the Italian economic landscape, but to continue growing in an increasingly complex market, they may face the need to evolve their governance models and evaluate new forms of equity financing. This is precisely the focus of the new white paper "Opening Up Capital in Family Businesses: How to Prepare for the Entry of an Investor," produced as part of Governance 4 Change—a project promoted by Legance, an Italian law firm with over 400 professionals, together with the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano.
The study was presented on September 22 in Rome, at the Circolo Canottieri Aniene, during the event "Building the Future: Business, Family, and Market," dedicated to the evolution of family business governance and the relationship between growth, the transformation of ownership structures, and opening up to new investors.
The entry of external capital and managers is indeed a growing phenomenon, destined to impact the evolution of Italian family capitalism. As Josip Kotlar, full professor at the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, explained, opening up capital can have significant implications for business competitiveness and generational succession processes. For this reason, according to the professor, preparation for change should begin within the family even before meeting with a potential investor.
For family SMEs, opening up capital does not only mean finding new financial resources. The entry of an external partner can lead to a transformation of corporate dynamics and the ways in which decisions are made. It therefore becomes important to reach this stage with a structured governance system already in place and a shared vision for the company's future.
During the meeting, the central role of family businesses in the Italian production system was also emphasized. Barbara Cimmino, Vice President for Export and Investment Attraction at Confindustria, highlighted how these entities are deeply rooted in their local areas, contribute to the development of skills and employment, and represent the quality of "Made in Italy" worldwide. The challenge, according to Cimmino, lies in enabling family-owned SMEs to grow and maintain their competitiveness, reconciling their identity with new development tools.
Opening up capital, industrial partnerships, and the involvement of external managers can therefore become tools to support growth without necessarily giving up the values and entrepreneurial culture built by the family over time. For this to be possible, however, it is necessary to clearly define the balance between the family and the new partners.
As highlighted by Kotlar, one of the fundamental aspects concerns the prior identification of decisions that will remain at the family's discretion and those that, instead, must be shared with the new investor. A clear definition of responsibilities and decision-making areas can allow for the building of a relationship between family shareholders and institutional investors based on a common entrepreneurial project.
Andrea Sacco Ginevri, a partner at Legance, also highlighted the importance of supporting family-run businesses toward sustainable growth paths and greater market openness. In this context, the recent reform of the Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF) is also significant; according to Ginevri, it introduced tools aimed at facilitating private companies' access to the stock market, while simultaneously intervening in the regulation of already listed SMEs.
The underlying principle of the white paper is therefore that solid family governance should not be built after the investor's entry, but represents a preliminary condition for approaching the opening of capital in an informed manner. The family must arrive at negotiations having already defined the objectives of the operation, internal balances, asset organization, and the level of control they are potentially willing to share.
Preparation becomes even more important when there are multiple branches within the family or different visions for the company's future. A complex ownership structure can indeed make it more difficult to reach shared decisions and increase the risk that internal differences emerge just as the company is dealing with an external investor.
For this reason, the path toward opening up capital requires, first and foremost, alignment within the family. Defining roles, responsibilities, and methods of participation in the life of the company in advance can help present a clearer structure and a shared strategy to the market.
For Italian family businesses, therefore, opening up capital does not necessarily represent a surrender of their identity, but can become a growth tool if approached through informed and adequately prepared governance. The ability to combine the continuity of family values with new capital, managerial skills, and industrial relations can represent one of the steps through which these companies can face market transformations and sustain their development in the long term.