Vita hits the Stock Exchange

VITA Società Editoriale (VITAeurope’s parent company) is pleased to announce that in its first day on the AIM Stock Exchange (the Italian stock exchange dedicated to small businesses) its share value grew by 22.34 per cent.

“VITA blasted onto the AIM Stock Exchange, it is the first group of non profits to be listed,” wrote Reuters Italia. 

Share price rose from its Initial Public Offering (IPO) Price €0.94 to €1.15. La mia finanza an online Italian financial magazine said, “it seems as though the market has a will to buy ‘good’ stocks.” VITA is the first company listed that will not distribute dividends. This is no accident, as Reuters Italia says “ the rookie VITA won’t give dividends but is selling like crazy.”

 The Italian Newspaper Repubblica said, on Friday, “VITA is a company that has stated in its charter that it will not distribute dividends. In this way it has launched a new cultural challenge to the world of non profits and also to the financial community.”

Riccardo Bonacina, journalist-entrepreneur and the President and creator of VITA, explains why the organisation chose to go public: “we needed new means quickly and from a fresh source. We chose to go on the stock market rather than turning to a bank.”

Not only, this move is “a sign of how it is possible to move beyond accepted logic, comfortable – even if it is lethal. This is possible when one moves outside its own auto-referencing circle; it is possible for non profits that don’t rely on their presumed goodness; it is possible for financial investors who want to see the real economy and the people who are acting.”  

The objective is to raise €3 million to finance the growth of the organisation by putting 35 per cent of VITA’s shares on the market.

The Italian Newspaper Corriere Della Sera calls the VITA’s stock listing “without a doubt very interesting”.

On October 22 at exactly 8:30 am VITA made its debut on the Italian AIM stock exchange. The publishing company says that it would not have made it to this point without the goodwill and support of the magazine’s readership.

For the IPO, €2.538 million in new capital was raised and undersigned by diverse actors.  Four per cent of initial investment came from several associations and individuals (including UCID and Francesco Merloni), 12 per cent from firms (including TerniEnergia and Coop Adriatica), 17 per cent from bank foundations (including Fondazione Banca popolare di Bergamo, Fondazione per il Sud, Fondazione CR di Trento e Rovereto ), 35 per cent from collective investment schemes and individual investors (including Mittel and Mais, Spa, and an investment from the important philanthropist Isabella Sergnoli), and 32 per cent from banks (including cooperatives and credit unions).

In total there are 29 new investors and partners that are joining the actual 41 partners that make up this network of the Italian third sector, reinforcing the public nature of the company. A public company with the ability to bring together different actors and interests around a project.

The project’s whole objective is to expand the voice of civil society and social actors and to develop project planning capacities to support and develop any initiative that aims to build a world, an economy, a society and an environment that is more sustainable and people friendly.

The staff and partners of VITA are very proud of what they have accomplished and of what this next step represents in terms of the company’s growth.

This debut of VITA, on the stock market, represents a sign of hope, faith and innovation in a period when the economy, society and politics are caught in a depression and are fracturing.