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Within the initiative “Why invest in Lombardy #AskOurPartner” here is our fifth article. Discover some smart tips for investors in the following short interview with Luca Masotti – Partner, Masotti Berger Cassella.
The Italian Biotech sector is a fast growing one and mostly composed by innovative companies. Moreover, it enjoys many tailored legal and fiscal tools that are useful to know and deploy. How to navigate among opportunities and legislation? Below some smart tips to investors.
- Do you know that …
Italy is one of the global leaders in the Biotech industry, with 541 companies producing a turnover of € 10.5 billion and employing nearly 10.000 specialized workers. Within this framework of excellence, Lombardy is the leading player: today the region hosts around 30% of the dedicated Biotech firms, and it generates more than 50% of the national R&D investments.
- Why investing in the Lombardy Biotech and pharmaceutical sectors?
Because Lombardy is the first pharmaceutical region in Europe in terms of number of employees. Italy is the second largest pharmaceutical producer in the European Union, with 26% of total production and 19% of the market, and ranks first for the increase in exports (+18% over the last five years).
In addition, Italy introduced several tax incentives for companies and individuals, such as two temporary accelerated depreciation regimes (30% Super-Depreciation, 150% Hyper-Depreciation) to foster the technological upgrade of productive assets – as well as a tax credit on R&D expenses (50% tax credit on R&D) and a special tax regime for the use of intellectual property.
Finally, the new Italian resident regime allows individuals who transfer their fiscal residence to Italy to access a new “substitute-tax” regime on all sources of income located abroad, with the possibility to extend the regime to each family members who transfer their residence to Italy (€100.000 Flat tax on the total sum of foreign incomes). These policies make it particularly favorable to invest not only in the biotech sector, but in Lombardy and Italy in general.
- What about healthcare and pharmaceutical industries legislation?
Regulation and compliance issues are particularly relevant in certain areas of business, in order to guarantee the highest level of quality in the services delivered while minimizing the related risks. This is specifically true for life sciences industry.
For this reason, compliance is a vital aspect to be considered when investing in this field: based on our experience, the key to prevent bureaucracy from affecting the success of a greenfield investment is to have a deep understanding of the authorization process and project timelines.
As for M&A transcations, dedicate particular care to fiscal, employment and regulatory compliance in the due diligence phase, with the support of suitable experienced partners and local management.
The interview is also available, together with useful information for investors, on the website of Invest in Lombardy, the service dedicated to foreign investment promotion, run by Promos (Special Agency of Milan, Monza Brianza, Lodi Chamber of Commerce), promoted by Unioncamere Lombardia and supported by Regione Lombardia.
To learn more, follow the Partners’ interviews that will be published on the website and You Tube channel of Invest in Lombardy every two weeks.
We thank Invest in Lombardy’s Premium Partner: Deloitte Financial Advisory; De Luca & Partners; Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners; Masotti Berger Cassella; Cazzaniga Costruzioni; Todarello & Partners.