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All times in CET
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08:30
Registration and coffee
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09:00
Chair's welcome remarks
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09:05
Keynote - Market outlook: Italy post-COVID
The keynote will explore the post pandemic world of Italian deal-making, growth and potential economic recovery.
- Taking stock of the impact of COVID-19 and subsequent pressure on financial markets
- Are on-going geopolitical tensions and trade issues affecting M&A in Italy?
- Reading the signs: What can be expected from the year ahead? Will shareholder activists be triggered by lower valuations?
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09:30
Panel – Deal activity in Italy
Italian deal making activity continued to grow in 1H21, reaching €34.9bn in value up from €20.4bn over the same period in 2020 and signalling significant recovery from COVID-19 following supportive monetary policies and a strong vaccination campaign. This positive market sentiment has seen a rise in transactions across all sectors including those more cyclical such as non-food, consumer goods and transportation.
- What are the perspectives and current deal-making in investments and what is the market sentiment for next year?
- How are changes to FDI screening likely to affect cross-border M&A activity?
- Foreign direct investment policy changes and their impact on deal-making: Navigating new rules and regulations, golden power and the increase of red tape
- The impact of COVID-19 on pricing and valuations: potential economic recovery?
- What are the sectors that look likely to emerge strongest from the pandemic? Trends for 2022
Marco De Bernardin Forensic Investigations and Intelligence - Country Manager, Italy, KrollValentina Pippolo Partner, Head of Italy, Bregal -
10:20
Networking coffee break
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10:50
Panel - Integrating ESG into M&A transactions
Sustainability has climbed higher on the agendas of not only boards and management but also consumers, employees, and regulators, creating a sharpened focus on the importance of considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) M&A. Increasingly it is seen as a question of value-generating business development rather than merely risk mitigation. This has come sharply into focus in the energy sector, as investors look to increase their exposure to renewable energy and related industries to improve their ESG credentials.
- The importance of ESG on deal-making and enterprise value creation: what matters?
- The impact of ESG-driven shareholder activism activity in Italy
- How to integrate ESG into your deal practices
- ESG impact on ratings and reputation
- Lack of standardisation and reporting standards and their impact on effective disclosures
Silvia P Bassani Managing Director, Global Investment Banking, Bank of America Europe -
11:40
Panel – Digitalisation and innovation to build resilience
Digital transformation is not a new trend, the continued growth of new technologies has been dubbed the fourth industrial revolution. But in many industries, the adoption of these technologies remained relatively low, until the pandemic drove companies to adapt their footprint to futureproof their strategy. With both corporates and sponsors looking to invest in innovation, digital enabled businesses across all sectors could prove ripe targets for acquisition.
- Exploring the sectors and sub-sectors that have shown resilience throughout the crisis and are likely to continue to see growth
- Focus on the retail and consumers’ sectors
- A practical overview of how understanding and overcoming risks related to digitalisation help build resilience
- Impact of digital transformation on family-owned businesses – how COVID and its consequences have helped speeding up the trend towards change
MLMarco Lattuada Global Head of Investment Banking & Structured Finance, Intesa Sanpaolo, IMI Corporate & Investment Banking DivisionAAAntonio Achille CEO, Natuzzi -
12:30
Panel – Private equity key trends
Private equity firms remain a key driver of European M&A, buoyed by a healthy financing market, and extensive amount of dry-powder available to deploy. A panel of private equity veterans will explore the lasting consequences of the impact of COVID-19 on fundraising, buyout and exit trends in the region. They will also debate hypothetical investment opportunities to explore the various approaches to the deal process, value creation strategies as well as sector views.
- What type of strategies is Private Equity considering? Are new business models emerging?
- Is the current trend in de-listing providing more deal sourcing opportunities for private equity?
- Alternative solutions and private equity structure - unique structuring on deals
- Club Deals, Search Funds and Pledge Funds: are these the current investment focus for private equity?
- Build and buy platforms
- How can private equity get involved in permanent capital solutions?
- What has been the most fruitful exit path where SPACS played a role?
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13:20
Closing remarks & networking lunch
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CloseFrancesco Tedeschini joined the Firm in 1989 and became a Partner in 1998. He has been Senior Partner from 2018 to 2021. Since 2021, he is Chairman of the Firm.
In 1990-1991 he worked at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP in New York.
He advises Italian and international clients on Corporate - Private M&A, Public M&A, public companies, banking, insurance and others regulated entities with a focus on complex transactions such as mergers, divisions, acquisitions, capital increases, joint ventures, takeover bids or exchange tender offerings and listed securities.
He has been ranked as a leading lawyer by prominent international legal guides such as Chambers, IFLR 1000 and Legal 500.
Flavio graduated in Economics in 1991 and joined Sanpaolo IMI Bank in 1995 after a previous experience in the insurance sector.
In M&A and equity investments, he took on roles of increasing seniority until becoming Head of M&A and Group Shareholdings Department in 2019. Over the years he has managed a total of about 60 equity M&A transactions for a value close to 40 billion euros.
Between 2014 and 2018 he was Head of Investment Management and Special Transactions Department within the non-core unit of the Group with responsibility for the sale of non-performing loans, non-core shareholdings and the management of subsidiaries to be restructured.
He has been board member of banks, insurance companies, investment funds and real estate companies in Italy and abroad.

Matteo joined Intesa Sanpaolo CIB as Head of Financial Sponsor Group for the Italian market in April 2017, with a coverage responsibility across multi products/services within the IB division
Before he was Head of Mergers & Acquisitions in Italy at Société Générale CIB where he advised, in a decade, both corporate and financial sponsors clients across different sectors
Matteo has started his investment banking career more than 17 years ago, developing professional experience primarily in M&A, ECM and Leverage & Acquisition financing areas
Matteo obtained a degree in Business Administration at Luigi Bocconi University and a master in finance within the Grow Programme at Insead

Alessandra leads the editorial teams of Mergermarket, Dealreporter and Activistmonitor for public markets coverage across EMEA. Based in London, Alessandra is also focusing in identifying new content sets within the public markets. She has over 15 years of experience in financial journalism having covered large scale of M&A deals.
Alessandra joined Acuris in 2004 as a research analyst. Since then she has worked on both Mergermarket and Dealreporter editorial teams, first as Head of Italian coverage, then Deputy Editor and Editor of Dealreporter. Alessandra previously worked as a training lawyer for a Milan-based law firm.
She holds a degree in law from the Catholic University of Milan.

Giovanni is Managing Director of goetzpartners’ Italian office, based in Milan.
As a strategy advisor with more than 26 years of experience in management consulting, Giovanni addresses issues such as corporate strategy development, business due diligence, post-acquisition support, digital transformation, market entry strategy, commercial excellence, customer value management, pricing, product innovation.
In the M&A sector he partners with the most prominent private equity houses and financial investors helping them to make the right investment decisions and enhance value creation.
Prior to goetzpartners, he worked in EY as Head of Commercial Advisory Services and in L.E.K. Consulting as Partner and Managing Director of the Italian office.
Nicola Anzivino - Partner PwC Italy, EMEA Deals Clients & Markets Leader, Global & EMEA Deals Industrial Manufacturing and Automotive Leader
Since 2018 Nicola is IM&A Global & EMEA Deals Leader and since 2020 he is EMEA Deals Clients & Markets Leader, in charge of business development activities within transactions at international level. Nicola is responsible for IPO activities in PwC Deals in Italy and since 2019 leads the Italian PwC Family Offices & Governance practice.
He has expertise in Commercial Due Diligence, Target Scouting, Strategic review and competitive market analysis, Strategic & Business Planning, Acquisition Business Plan, IPO assistance, Business plan review and strategic modelling.
Nicola, as Project Leader, has led large consulting assignments in Italy and Europe in all key industries for major clients (commercial due diligence, acquisition business plan and strategic review of major M&A and IPO processes in the private sector for Corporate and Private Equity clients as well as strategic and business planning projects for major corporations).
Nicola has a Master’s Degree in Financial Economics from Essex University (UK) and attended several executive courses in the last years in top universities such as INSEAD Business School.

Head of M&A Department of the Firm, Massimiliano represents clients in matters of private and public M&A with a focus on private equity, strategic investments and joint ventures. His experience M&A experience spans various industries, including the real estate and hospitality, insurance, mechanical and food & beverage sectors. He is also often involved as advisor with respect to complex multi-jurisdiction litigation cases. He joined the Firm in 1998 and became a Partner in 2010. He was a Foreign Associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP in New York and previously a visiting foreign lawyer with Gide Loyrette Nouel, Association d'Avocats in Paris.

Stefano Mele has joined Fabbri Group in 2019 and is currently Group Chief Executive Officer.
Prior to joining Fabbri Group, Stefano Mele has developed businesses and made turnarounds in mechanical (GEA, SIAT and others) and chemical (BASF, Nylstar) companies in Italy and abroad.
Stefano Mele holds a Master degree in Mechanical Engineering from Università di Roma and a Master in Business Administration from MIP-Politecnico di Milano.

Massimo Benedetti, PwC Italy, Deals Leader
Massimo Benedetti is Managing Director of PwC Italy Advisory line of service with a background in Deals.
PwC Italy Advisory provides end-to-end streamlined solutions from Strategic designing of the Business Planning to the Execution phase of the specific identified actions. The Advisory Deals Group supports investors, management and owners of industrial and financial groups in order to maximise the company value through deals and one off reorganization. The Advisory Transformation Group contributes to the creation of value focusing on the financial and operational aspects of the day-by-day management of activities.
Over the years, Massimo has worked in Deals with different roles, acting as Financial Advisor in the analysis of investment opportunities, in the negotiation phases and in defining SPAs clausis both in bonis and restructuring procedures.
He has been involved in numerous Italian and cross border transactions leveraging on a multiannual expertise gained in the United Stated and through the coordination of the China, Japan, Korea, Germany, US and LATAM Desks that he helped in developing.
Among his clients, to name but a few, there are some of the main Italian companies such as Conad, Pirelli, Versace, Prysmian, Telecom Italia, Luxottica, RCS Group, De Agostini, Barilla, Coesia, Crif, Mirato. He has supported several foreign investors in the Italian market such as Swisscom, Areva, Elior, Assa Abloy, Alcatel Alenia, TDF, Reed Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer, Bureau Veritas, ZTE, KEDA Clean Energy, Kerry Logistics, Haier, Suning, Tongrentang and CHP Management.
Among his recent projects is the recent disposal of the Public Sector PwC Business Unit to Gyrus Capital, the acquisition of Auchan Italy operations by Conad, the restructuring of the combined group in connection with the acquisition of Pirelli by ChemChina, the acquisition of Candy by Haier, the support to Swisscom in the acquisition of Fastweb, the disposal of Kamps GmbH and Lieken AG by Barilla, the disposal of EON’s Italian assets.

Alessandra leads the editorial teams of Mergermarket, Dealreporter and Activistmonitor for public markets coverage across EMEA. Based in London, Alessandra is also focusing in identifying new content sets within the public markets. She has over 15 years of experience in financial journalism having covered large scale of M&A deals.
Alessandra joined Acuris in 2004 as a research analyst. Since then she has worked on both Mergermarket and Dealreporter editorial teams, first as Head of Italian coverage, then Deputy Editor and Editor of Dealreporter. Alessandra previously worked as a training lawyer for a Milan-based law firm.
She holds a degree in law from the Catholic University of Milan.
Riccardo Zagaria, is currently CEO of DOC Generici, Italy's leading pharmaceutical company in the generic drugs market.
He has been CEO of Giuliani S.p.a and Italchimici, and previously held positions of increasing responsibility at national and international level in pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi, Nycomed and Zambon.

In addition to managing Mergermarket’s global team of journalists, Giovanni’s responsibilities include seeking new growth areas, moderating and speaking at M&A events and hiring new talent. He also comments regularly about the markets on TV and gives academic lectures. Giovanni joined Mergermarket in 2001 and has held a number of positions within the company, including Frankfurt Bureau Chief, Italian Correspondent, telecommunications, leisure and media reporter and research analyst. He is based in London.

Marianna founded 36Brains in 2020 combining her deep knowledge of corporate intelligence and business investigations with an unconditional love for technology. She works with clients to boost company performance and provide unparalleled insights into their operations moving techniques and technologies out of the cloak and dagger world of intelligence and applying them to new areas of business. Tech is her key driver and she applies it in new ways to traditional fields such as M&A due diligence, background checks, internal frauds and forensic investigations. Marianna and her team have worked with clients in the private and government sectors across the globe. Prior to founding 36Brains, Marianna, a Cambridge-trained economist, rose to become Head of Southern Europe at Kroll and a member of the company’s risk committee.
Luca Peyrano is member of the Corporate Development team at ION Group and Chief Operating Officer of ION Analytics, a leading global player in data and financial intelligence for capital markets with a portfolio of established brands, including Mergermarket, Debtwire and Dealogic. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Luca started with Borsa Italiana in 1999 with responsibility for companies’ admission to listing and then moved on to manage the SMEs markets offering until year 2007. Following the merger with the London Stock Exchange he was appointed Head of Continental Europe for Primary Markets, until when in 2016 he took on the position as CEO of ELITE, the London Stock Exchange’s private market. Prior to the that, he worked in the consumer goods sector and in the automotive industry. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University and received an MBA from IMD in Switzerland.

Valentina Franceschini is a Senior Partner at Wise Equity in Milan. She joined the management company in 2000 and during the past 20 years has managed several investments in Italian SMEs in different industries.
Valentina currently serves on the board of Aleph (digital printing), Corob (tinting systems), Imprima (textile printing and finishing), Tapì (T-cap closures for food and beverage), Vittoria (bicycle tires), Waycap (fashion accessories).
Prior to joining Wise Equity, Valentina was an Equity Research Analyst at Credit Suisse focusing on the Media sector.
Valentina obtained a degree in Business Administration at Luigi Bocconi University.
Massimiliano Tintinelli is 50 years old and, throughout his professional career, he has held management positions in both national and multinational companies across a variety of industries.
His professional activities have included providing financial advice, M&A and corporate restructuring projects, where he served as Chief Restructuring Officer and CEO;
In 2012, he founded MTI Consulting, a Strategic and Organisational Consulting Firm.
He currently serves on the board of directors and as part of supervisory bodies for a number of international companies.
Massimiliano Tintinelli is married and has two 12-year-old daughters, Matilde and Sofia.
Luca Deantoni is a Managing Director of Neuberger Berman and Partner of NB Renaissance Partners. Previously he was CFO at EcorNaturaSì (the Italian leading organic food supermarket chain, with approx. €300mm turnover), which he joined in 2012 spearheading a successful leveraged minority buyout, and Partner of Finanziaria Canova, an Italian investment firm, from 2009 to 2012. From 1996 to 2009 he worked at Credit Suisse, where he was a Director of DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (Credit Suisse’s private equity investment arm) from 2007 to 2009 and a member of the European Investment Banking Group from 1996 to 2007, based in London and Milan, with various responsibilities including Head of European Specialty Retail and Luxury. In 2004 he worked at Safilo (#2 global luxury eyewear maker and a portfolio company of DLJ Merchant Banking Partners) as Head of Strategic Planning to support the successful turnaround of the company. Mr. Deantoni graduated cum laude in Economics from Bocconi University and serves as a Board member of Novamont and Uteco.
Andrea Bertoncello
In 2015 joined DeA Capital Alterative Funds, the private equity arm of DeA Capital, the Italian leader in alternative investments (listed on the Milan Stock Exchange) and part of De Agostini group. He is Managing Director of Taste of Italy and Taste of Italy 2, private equity funds focused on the food & beverage and F&B-related industries. Previously he spent over 9 years at L Capital. Sponsored by the French luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, L Capital managed pan-European private equity funds focused on branded consumer goods and selective retail. The first 6 years of Andrea’s career were spent in the M&A industry, mainly at Mediobanca, working on several M&A transactions and IPOs.
He graduated with honours in Business Administration from the University of Torino
Emanuela Pettenò, Partner PwC Italy, Consumer & Markets Deals Leader
Emanuela joined PwC Transaction Services in 2001 and is partner since 2010.
Emanuela dedicates most of her time to private equity houses and has led numerous buy-side and sell-side engagements for pan-European and Italian private equity houses, covering various industry segments. Since 2015 Emanuela is responsible for the Italian Consumer team and since 2018 is PwC Italy Markets Deals Leader.
Prior to joining PwC, Emanuela spent 5 years working in a primary audit firm. Emanuela graduated in Economics from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and is an Italian Chartered Auditor.
Luigi Vaccaro joined the Firm in 2001 and became a partner in 2009.
Head of the Firm’s private equity Business Unit, Luigi provides assistance toboth Italian and foreign clients in corporate matters, with a focus oncross-border M&A, joint ventures and private equity transactions. HisM&A experience spans various industries, including chemicals, luxury,retail and financial and regulated entities. Luigi also belongs to the Firm’sAsia Desk and has earned significant experience in assisting Asian investors.
Luigi has been recognized as a leading lawyer by prominent international legalguides such as Chambers, IFLR 1000, and Legal 500.
Member of the Pavia Bar (Italy), 2000 and graduated in Law, University ofPavia, Italy, 1996. In 2004 he was Foreign Associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate,Meagher & Flom, LLP in Palo Alto, California.