A double round table to celebrate 20 years since the birth of Ver Capital and one year since its entry into the French group Sienna Investment Managers. On January 28th, Andrea Pescatori, CEO of the Milanese asset management company, organized the Investor meeting in the Fonderia Napoleonica, where he illustrated the path of Ver Capital, from its distant beginnings in the private debt sector to its recent entry into special situations, concluding that today the asset management company, thanks to its entry into the Sienna Group, can compete with the world's leading asset management groups. Then the round tables, the first to talk about leadership with the champion sailor and navigator Ambrogio Beccaria and with the CEO of Banijay Italia Paolo Bassetti, interviewed by Guido Meda (Sky). The second was dedicated to the trends and needs of institutional investors in 2025, with Giovanni Pons from “La Repubblica” moderating the debate between Roberto Saro, Secretary General of the Cariparo Foundation, Francesco Ceci, CIO of the Cariplo Foundation and Roberto Lamonica, CIO of Inarcassa.

The first round table was fun, with Meda playfully provoking the two guests, getting Beccaria to talk about his oceanic exploits and increasingly technological boats of the future, while Bassetti instead reasoned about the TV of the future, which will increasingly be a program schedule written by the viewer and multi-platform in a “playing field” that is now international.

The debate between institutional investors, introduced by Giovanni Pons, was also stimulating. The three speakers explained how Foundations are closed portfolios, which earn in order to distribute to the territory and whose objective is to maintain the real value of the assets after covering inflation and all other costs, while the Funds work as a first pillar with cash outflows for compulsory pensions.

The issue of liquidity generated by portfolio instruments is also relevant, to avoid having to sell below cost in times of severe market turmoil. It was also highlighted how a certain slowdown in deployment on private markets can pave the way for secondary transactions and how it is necessary for Italian funds to grow in size in the face of significant growth in institutional assets.

The debate then ended, at Pons's urging, on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues which, even if “disowned” by Trump, continue to be relevant for investors.

Finally, Andrea Pescatori presented the responses of the SGR and the Sienna Group to the various needs that emerged from investors, both in terms of liquid and evergreen products, real assets for the domestic market and insurance funds.

In his closing remarks, Paul de Leusse, CEO of Sienna Investment Managers, explained to those present what the Group - with 40 billion euros in assets under management and funds with a strong ESG angle - can offer the Italian market, with strategies ranging from private markets to liquid assets.