The second leg of the CDP Group’s United States Roadshow has ended. Following San Francisco last February, it stopped off on the East Coast from 15 to 17 May. The objective of the three-day event was to strengthen relations with leading American financial operators and promote investment opportunities in Italy's highest-potential sectors, just a few days before CDP's first Yankee bond is issued. The $1 billion issue has been four times oversubscribed, with demand from over 120 international investors (45% of them Americans).
The packed agenda of meetings, workshops and networking events was organised in collaboration with the Italian Consulate General and the Bank of Italy’s representative office in New York. More than 70 senior representatives of pension funds and investment funds active in private equity and venture capital were involved and found out about CDP's activities and Italy's strengths (which are not always well known). Indeed, Italy is the seventh largest manufacturing power in the world, with a significant ability to generate innovation and invest in the green transition; its private debt-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest in Europe and it enjoys a strategic location in relation to the Mediterranean’s energy interconnections.
Italy’s attractiveness to international investors and the strategic role of CDP were also highlighted by Chief Executive Officer Dario Scannapieco in the live interview he gave to Bloomberg TV before taking part in the Bloomberg Leaders Circle, a closed-door meeting with a selected group of investors; they were joined by Andrea Montanino, Chief Economist and CDP Sector Strategy and Impact Director, and Francesco Mele, Chief Executive Officer of CDP Equity.
A networking event organised at the Italian Consulate General with representatives of the Italian entrepreneurial and financial community on the East Coast provided another important opportunity for discussion. It was attended by Consul Fabrizio Di Michele and Carmine Porello, the Head of the Bank of Italy’s representative office.