(AVN) – Venice, October 7, 2026
The Veneto Region is strengthening its corporate financial engineering toolkit and opening a new gateway to the capital markets for local businesses. The Regional Executive Body (Giunta regionale) has approved the establishment of the “Basket Bond Section” under the Fondo Veneto Patrimonializzazione (Veneto Equity Fortification Fund). Backed by a total allocation of €13,089,875 (combining regional and ERDF funds), this vehicle is designed to support Venetian SMEs through minibond issuances and foster the diversification of their funding sources.
“To scale up,” stated Regional Minister for Economic Development Massimo Bitonci, “an SME cannot rely on a single source of financing. While bank credit remains essential, we must now provide our enterprises with complementary market instruments that support more ambitious capital expenditures over medium- to long-term horizons. Basket bonds enable even small and medium-sized enterprises to access capital markets to fund growth, innovation, capex, and international expansion.”
The public sector’s role will focus on risk mitigation via a first-loss cash collateral mechanism covering up to a maximum of 25% of the total portfolio value. In this way, public funds serve as leverage to crowd in and mobilize private capital.
Based on precedents set in other regional markets, the Regional Authority estimates a potential leverage ratio of up to four times the public funds committed to the credit enhancement facility.
The deployment of this instrument will be entrusted to Veneto Innovazione.
This initiative forms part of a broader trajectory aimed at enhancing regional credit access mechanisms and alternative finance instruments.
Indeed, the new Basket Bond Section expands the operational scope of the Fondo Veneto Patrimonializzazione, aligning it with the evolving financial requirements of enterprises and structural shifts in the international economic landscape.
“We are building a more comprehensive toolkit for Venetian businesses,” added Bitonci. “Non-repayable grants, subsidized loans, guarantees, alternative finance, venture capital: there is no single instrument suited to every company or every growth stage. Regional economic policy must offer a diversified suite of solutions, enabling firms to select the structure best tailored to their strategic project.”
Alternative finance was also the central topic two days ago during a high-level meeting between the Veneto Region and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), focused on enterprise funding mechanisms and venture capital. The discussion explored potential synergies to deploy instruments such as Basket Bonds, Venture Debt, the Fondo Rotativo Imprese (Revolving Enterprise Fund), and specific CDP vehicles, as well as strengthening guarantee schemes for SMEs.
“Our dialogue with CDP aligns directly with this strategy,” concluded Bitonci. “The Regional Government is actively working to integrate regional and national mechanisms, eliminating overlap and building structural synergies. The Basket Bond represents a foundational element of this strategy: our objective is to expand financing avenues for Venetian enterprises while ensuring the regional ecosystem is fully equipped to support them from capex expansion through to global market integration.”
