Shares and Other Participatory Financial Instruments in Italian Law

Abstract

Following the last comprehensive reform of company law, the funding channels provided for the public companies have been greatly increased through the removal of certain limitations on the atypicity principle in creating share classes. The traditional dichotomy between shares (venture capital) and bonds (debt capital) has definitely fallen apart leaving space for a wider and more comprehensive system of company funding channels, within which the highly innovative element is represented by the introduction of participatory financial instruments. This paper analyzes share’s general characteristics and their circulation, special classes of shares (preferred shares with economic rights, limited voting shares, additional services shares, savings shares and participatory financial instruments).

Keywords: Additional services shares, preferred shares, financial instruments, limited voting shares, tracking shares, savings shares, profit shares, special classes of shares, Italian law

JEL Classification: G23, K22, P13