In fact, the positive effects of the falling oil prices and the announcement of the ECB were, and will continue to be in our opinion, the main drivers of the Eurozone recovery. Southern Europe was harshly affected by the financial crisis three years ago with Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal being under financial markets’ scrutiny over their sovereign debts. However the economic recovery has already started and we believe that the very positive U-turn of the European peripheral economies will continue, backed by both macroeconomic events (such as QE and economic reforms) and stronger company fundamentals following substantial years of cost-cutting.

Generali Investments Europe’s (GIE) “European Recovery Equity” strategy reflects the above investment philosophy and, within that favourable macro-economic backdrop, is purely based on a bottom-up, stock-picking process exploiting investment opportunities in Southern European markets. Our open-ended Luxembourg based SICAV invests in equity securities issued by companies listed on EMU regulated markets that will benefit from Southern European recovery and structural reforms driven by supranational organizations (IMF, ECB, EU…) with a main focus on Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece.

Read the full white paper at the link beneath Related Files.