Italian debut fund rakes in €188m

Synergy with Entrepreneurs, a new venture led by Gianfilippo Cuneo and Benedetto de Benedetti, has held a first close of an equity fund dedicated to backing Italian entrepreneurs.

Synergo SGR, a new Italian investment firm led by Gianfilippo Cuneo and Benedetto de Benedetti, has held a first close of Synergy with Entrepreneurs, a private equity fund aiming to invest in businesses being built by Italian entrepreneurs. 

Cuneo helped launch Investitori Associati in the early 1990s

 The fund has received commitments totalling €188 million ($234 million) from a cast of international institutional investors including AlpInvest Partners, Banque Pictet, Electra Investment Trust, Gartmore and Stanford University. Quilverst, a French family office, anchored the vehicle. It will be capped at €300 million, a target that Synergo hopes to reach later this year.

Cuneo, who in the early 1990s helped launch Investitori Associati, one of Italy’s leading private equity groups, said in an interview that the new fund would seek to acquire minority stakes in companies with enterprise values of at least €50 million.

Milan-based Synergo is comprised of Cuneo, de Benedetti as well as junior partners Flavio Abbondati, who joined from Permira, and Matteo Cirla, a banker who joined from ABAX Bank.
 
Debevoise & Plimpton provided legal advice on the formation of the fund. Synergo was also advised by Italian tax and legal consultant Di Tanno & Associati.