La Republica: Ver Capital is launching a 1 billion private debt fund dedicated to financing Italian SMEs
The stocks of companies such as Rheinmetall and Leonardo are flying. Flows of 1.4 billion in ETFs in the sector. Ver Capital is launching a 1 billion private debt fund dedicated to financing Italian SMEs in the supply chain.
March 15, 2025
MILAN – The prospect of huge defense spending, from the 800 billion euros revolving around the RearmEu plan to Germany’s rearmament projects under Merz’s leadership, is boosting the sector’s stocks and related financial instruments. A few days ago, analysts at Jefferies expanded their coverage of European defense stocks, emphasizing that we are facing a “new paradigm”. The German company Rheinmetall is the favorite, fresh from its record sales and with the prospect of further growth, but the Italian Leonardo is also among the favorites, seen as a key player for Italian projects and with further growth margins in cash generation. To contextualize the euphoria of the market, let’s talk about stocks that have gained 121 and 82 percent since the beginning of the year, respectively.
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The flow of capital into the sector is not limited to the stock markets. Bloomberg calculates that ETFs dedicated to the sector – those financial instruments that replicate the performance of an underlying security, currency or basket – have attracted 1.4 billion in capital. A few days ago WisdomTree launched two new ETFs: one dedicated to nuclear power and one to European defense, also listed on the Italian Stock Exchange.
In this context, there is also the initiative of Ver Capital, controlled by the French Sienna Investment Managers (Sienna IM), which has launched the first Private Debt strategy, focused on supporting Italian and European SMEs in the defense sector. It’s called Sienna Héphaistos, technically it’s a fund under Luxembourg law with two compartments that will invest in parallel, one of which, managed by Ver Capital Sgr, will be specifically dedicated to the Italian defense industry, while the one managed by Sienna AM France will be dedicated to the main European countries, the company explained in a statement. The fundraising target is significant: 1 billion euros.
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“Subcontractors to the major defense industrial groups in Italy, France and Germany, which represent crucial links in the fragmented European defense supply chain, face a growing need for capital to meet increased demand. Sienna Héphaistos therefore intends to provide capital for development and in particular for the renewal and expansion of production lines, for the development of organic growth projects and for acquisitions, in consideration of the probable need for aggregation between companies in this sector, and for the support of working capital financing.
Ver is targeting institutional investors and the “possibility of investing in a thematic private debt fund, characterized by the presence of companies with a high technological content”. Andrea Pescatori, CEO of Ver Capital sgr, explained how “In Italy the structure of the economic fabric, strongly characterized by the presence of SMEs, requires considerable investments, starting from research and development, in order to be able to cope with the increase in orders from large national groups in the sector. The new fund aims to provide immediate support, from a private perspective, to the best Italian companies in the sector and to provide an interesting investment opportunity for institutional investors who wish to support the defense system”.