First Capital: Italian investment value

2003 was the year of the first international class of the Master in Corporate Finance (MCF) at SDA Bocconi School of Management, with over 40 participants from India, South America, and several European countries. Alberto Dell’Acqua, the current director of the MCF, remembers that first year as ”one of the most entertaining, stimulating classes I’ve ever had the chance to teach.” Fertile ground for growing First Capital, an Italian investment firm listed on the AIM segment of the Italian Stock Exchange.

The business idea was the brainchild of Renzo Torchiani, an alum of that first class. Smiling, he tells us how he was practically forced to sign up for the Master by his former employer: “I’d been working in the world of banking and investments for many years, and I was convinced I knew everything there was to know about my sector. That’s why at first I was very skeptical about the idea of taking a course; I felt like that obligation was a rejection of what I was doing. Instead the Master was a wonderful surprise: a whole world opened up to me, and it was a great opportunity to grow, professionally and even on a human level.”

The Master was actually a necessary step along the way to creating First Capital along with other managers who worked in the private equity sector. With startup capital of 10 million euro, in Milan in 2008 Renzo Torchiani founded the firm which today he heads as executive director.

Vincenzo Polidoro is also an alum of the MFC (class of 2000) and currently serves as CEO of First Capital. Here’s how he remembers it: “Before anyone else realized it, Renzo had the acumen to see that the financial market didn’t have a player who could partner with Italian SMEs. Our role is to help companies that want to access the financial market, providing them with more than capital – giving them the skills they need to manage growth.”

After a two-year running in period, First Capital opted to go public in 2010, starting out with 20 million euro in equity. In recent years the firm has raised over 75 million euro, investing in dozens of companies in different economic sectors and supporting them as they enter the Italian Stock Market. First Capital’s 5-year goal is to hit 200 million, expanding the portfolio of investors, and attracting institutional investors as well.

The impact of the pandemic on business activities is worrying, obviously, but not terrifying: “In 2019 alone we raised 25 million euro. So we have the capital to invest at a time when Italian companies need it. Our job now is to identify the best opportunities to put our money on, including new investment targets too.”