Turning point for Made in Italy: the Enterprise Preservation Fund opens to acquisitions for the development of the Historical Trademarks sector

• From bailouts to business-to-business synergies for greater competitiveness of the country: the Enterprise Safeguard Fund becomes a tool to strengthen Made in Italy supply chains;
• Starting today, Historical Trademarks companies will be able to acquire distressed companies with more than 20 employees, as long as they operate in a homogeneous sector;
• Massimo Caputi, President Historical Trademarks Association: “Fundamental measure for the consolidation of the industrial fabric and the expansion of our historic businesses.”

Rome, March 5, 2026 – The Fondo Salvaguardia Imprese changes face: from a measure aimed primarily at the defense and protection of Made in Italy, it is transformed into a strategic lever for the competitiveness of Historical Trademarks. With the approval of SME Law 2025, passed yesterday in Parliament, the Safeguard Fund in fact becomes an engine of development: no longer just a direct rescue tool for Italian companies in difficulty, but a pool that Historical Trademarks companies can access to take over other companies in crisis, as long as they are Italian, composed of more than 20 employees and operating in a homogeneous sector.

“The approval of this regulation,” comments Massimo Caputi, President of the Association of Italian Historical Trademarks, “represents a great success for the entire Made in Italy system.

It is a paradigm shift: we are no longer just talking about interventions to save companies in crisis, but a vision that puts the growth, cohesion and competitiveness of our companies at the center.

This is a step forward that we have strongly supported as an Association, because it recognizes Historical Trademarks the role they deserve: not mere custodians of tradition, but protagonists of the country’s industrial future. Made in Italy must no longer defend itself, it must grow, innovate, compete.

This reform gives our businesses the tools to do so, valuing human capital, preserving the identity of territories and keeping control of manufacturing excellence in Italy.

Every company that stays in Italian hands means skills that are handed down, jobs that are protected and value that is consolidated. This is the spirit of the reform: combining protection with growth, tradition with innovation, to give strength to a Made in Italy that looks to the world with confidence and ambition.”

With the amendment introduced to Article 43 of Decree-Law 34/2020, the Enterprise Safeguard Fund, established in 2020 to prevent the closure of production sites and the loss of jobs, now also becomes a tool to encourage homogeneous industrial aggregations and to strengthen Italian production chains, enabling them to compete with large international groups.

Historical Trademarks will continue to have direct access to the Fund for restructuring or acquisition operations, while smaller companies will be able to participate in revitalization operations through financial or industrial partnerships.

The reform maintains the Fund’s employment protection function, but places it alongside a logic of industrial development, not just rescue, promoting the emergence of more robust, synergistic and competitive production clusters.

Read the Press Release