Nowadays, investors perceive Italy to be more a source of risk than an opportunity owing to its chronic problems of sluggish GDP growth, high public debt, low productivity and a banking system that is beleaguered by a high NPE burden. However, if we take a closer look at the Italian scenario from the perspective of mid-sized companies, the overall picture is much rosier and full of attractive investment opportunities.

From a macro standpoint, we could highlight the country best-in-class primary, bolstered by a positive trade balance, or the limited level of private debt. What is more, as far as the financial system is concerned, although the level of non-performing loans in Italy (11%) is twice as high as the EU average (roughly 5%), we should not underestimate the efforts that have been made over the last two years to reduce the exposure (the NPE ratio was at 19% in the third quarter of 2015).