Equita S p A : appoints an advisory board to support the Group's strategic decisions

EQUITA APPOINTS AN ADVISORY BOARD TO SUPPORT THE GROUP'S STRATEGIC DECISIONS

• - PAOLO BASILICO, STEFANO MAINETTI, ROBERTA NERI, THIERRY PORTÉ AND PAUL SCHAPIRA APPOINTED AS INDEPENDENT ADVISORS TO SUPPORT EQUITA

• - THE ADVISORY BOARD WILL ASSIST THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND THE MANAGEMENT TEAM TO ASSESS NEW GROWTH AND BUSINESS DIVERSIFICATION OPPORTUNITIES

Milan, July 7, 2020

Equita, the leading independent investment bank in Italy, has appointed an advisory board that will support and assist the management with regard to the Group's strategic decisions.

The advisory board, entirely composed of leading independent experts, includes Paolo Basilico, Stefano Mainetti, Roberta Neri, Thierry Porté and Paul Schapira. These experts will have an advisory role to the Board of Directors and Equita's management in the assessment of new growth and business diversification opportunities.

The background and competences of each independent expert will strongly support Equita and will contribute positively to the achievement of the targets set in the Group's 2020-2022 strategic plan.

Paolo Basilico, Italian entrepreneur and founder of the Kairos Group active in the private banking and asset management industry, is Chief Executive Officer of Samhita Investments. Mr Basilico had long-standing professional experience also in the brokerage industry, where he held the role of General Manager and Chief Executive Officer at Giubergia Warburg SIM;

Stefano Mainetti, electronic engineer, has dedicated many years to digital start-ups, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. Mr Mainetti is Executive Advisor at PoliHub - the start-up district and accelerator of the

Politecnico di Milano - and actively participates to the management of several invested companies;

Roberta Neri, founding partner of Manesa (then merged into Byom), an advisory firm for financial and industrial investors, is also senior advisor at Asterion Capital Partners. Ms Neri has long-standing experience and praises the role of Chief Financial Officer first and board member then at ACEA, as well as the role of independent Director at Sorgenia, Autostrade Meridionali per l'Italia and Cementir Holding. Over the past five years, Ms Neri served as Chief Executive Officer at ENAV and successfully managed the listing of the company.

Thierry Porté, managing director of the private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC, today also covers additional offices in insurance, banking and financial companies. Mr Porté held several leading academic and institutional roles, and served as President of the Japan-US Friendship Commission and of the US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange upon appointment by the President of the United States; Mr Porté also held the office of Vice-chairman at Equita SIM from 2009 to 2017 and at Equita Group from 2017 to 2020;

Paul Schapira, strategic and financial advisor to corporations, families and private equity funds, today is independent director at Saipem and Tamburi Investment Partners. Mr Schapira previously served as managing director at investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, with responsibilities for the investment banking division in Italy and a senior role in the financial sponsors' activities for Europe when director at Morgan Stanley.

Andrea Vismara, Chief Executive Officer at Equita, commented: "We are honoured to combine our competences and managerial abilities with the advice of such esteemed professionals who have developed significant expertise in their reference sector. Their competences are complementary to ours and will help Equita to successfully identify new business opportunities".

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Equita, the leading Italian independent investment bank, has been offering its expertise and insight on financial markets to professional investors, corporates and institutions for more than 45 years. The holding Equita Group, listed on the "STAR" segment of the Italian Stock Exchange, counts its managers and professionals among shareholders (with approximately 54% of the share capital) and this ensures a strong alignment of interests with investors. With its global markets activities, today Equita is the leading independent broker in Italy that offers to its institutional clients brokerage services on equities, fixed income, derivatives and ETFs. Moreover, thanks to the continuous engagement of the award winning research team - acknowledged for its top quality research - the trading floor supports investors' decisions with valuable analyses and investment ideas on Italian and European financial markets. Equita also leverages on a unique investment banking platform that combines independent strategic advice with unparalleled access to capital markets. The wide offering proposed includes advisory services in M&A, other extraordinary financial transactions, along with equity and fixed income capital raising solutions. Our aim is to best serve all clients, from large industrial groups to small and medium enterprises, from financial institutions to the public sector. Lastly, Equita Capital SGR offers to institutional investors and banking groups its asset management competences and its deep understanding of financial markets, especially in mid and small caps. The strong focus on alternative assets like private debt and the asset management strategies based on distinctive areas of expertise of the Group make Equita Capital SGR the best partner for both investors looking for interesting returns and banking groups that would like to co-develop new products for their retail networks.