Private Markets Spur Italy’s Comeback as Listings Lag (1)

Italy’s economic revival has made it an investor darling. Executives say private markets are set to underwrite the bulk of that growth.

Italy is “now a country that’s looked at with interest from the outside,” Claudia Parzani, chair of Euronext NV’s Italian stock exchange, said at Bloomberg’s Future of Finance conference in Milan on Wednesday.

Yet most companies are still reluctant to IPO in Italy, even after stock markets reached two-decade highs. With the country’s public markets undersized relative to the economy’s potential, private capital is taking a pivotal role.

“Investment funds have become much more appealing for ...