Italian State-Backed CDP Raises Nexi Stake to Nearly 30%, Blocking CVC Takeover
Italy's state-backed lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti has moved to lift its stake in payments group Nexi to as much as 29.9 per cent, a decisive step that entrenches public-sector control over one of Europe's largest payment processors and all but rules out a takeover by US private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.
The board of CDP Equity, the investment arm of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, approved the increase late last week. CDP Equity currently holds around 19.1 per cent of the Milan-listed company and will lift that position to just under the 30 per cent threshold that, under Italian market rules, would trigger a mandatory takeover bid. The Italian state lender has been explicit that no such bid is coming.
How the stake will be built
The mechanism combines direct share purchases on the market with derivative contracts covering up to 8 per cent of Nexi's share capital. Those derivatives, according to CDP Equity, may be settled physically in shares once the necessary regulatory authorisations are obtained. Private equity fund Hellman and Friedman remains the other anchor investor with a holding of around 22 per cent.
Nexi shares jumped close to 5 per cent on the Milan exchange following the announcement, with brokers Equita and Intermonte both flagging the move as a floor under the stock. Intermonte noted that while institutional confidence is reinforced, the enlarged CDP position effectively removes the speculative premium that had built up around a possible CVC bid.
Blocking the CVC approach
CVC Capital Partners had been circling Nexi for months, exploring a potential take-private deal for a business it views as undervalued relative to global payments peers. By pushing its holding to the 30 per cent ceiling, CDP makes any rival offer mathematically and politically untenable. Combined with Hellman and Friedman's stake, more than half the register is now locked up in long-term hands.
The move is the first major intervention by Fabio Barchiesi since he took over as chief executive of CDP Equity, and signals a more assertive industrial policy stance from the state lender on companies it considers strategic national infrastructure.
A European payments champion thesis
CDP framed the operation as backing an "industrial evolution" of Nexi into a European-scale platform for digital money. The state lender argues that payments infrastructure is now critical national and continental plumbing, and that Europe needs a domestic champion capable of competing with US-controlled networks and processors rather than depending on them.
Nexi already processes around 1.8 trillion euros of digital transactions across more than 25 countries, the product of its mergers with Italy's SIA and Nordic group Nets. CDP's bet is that scale, anchored by patient capital, gives the group the runway to invest in real-time payments rails, digital euro readiness, and cross-border acceptance without the cost discipline a private equity owner would impose.
For European payments consolidation, the message is unambiguous. The next wave of deals in the sector is unlikely to be driven by US buyout funds rolling up listed processors. Instead, governments and state-aligned investors are increasingly willing to use their balance sheets to keep payments capacity domestic, a pattern already visible in France, Germany and now Italy.
About Nexi
Nexi is the European PayTech group headquartered in Milan, with operations across Italy, the Nordics, the DACH region, Central and South-Eastern Europe. Formed through the combination of Nexi, SIA and Nets, the group serves banks, merchants and consumers across more than 25 countries and is listed on the Euronext Milan exchange.
