Francesco Casiraghi joined Advent in 2007 and is a Managing Director in Milan. He advises on investments in the industrial sector. Francesco has advised on more than 10 investments during his career, five while at Advent.
Prior to joining Advent, Francesco worked at Merrill Lynch, where he was a member of the investment banking team for five years in their Hong Kong, London, Milan, and Rome offices. While at Merrill Lynch, he worked on a number of high-profile transactions across several industries and products. Prior to Merrill Lynch, Francesco worked at Procter & Gamble as a process engineer.
Francesco holds an MA in Industrial Engineering from Parma University.
How has living in your region impacted your perspective on investing?
Many of the companies that interest Advent are well known to us, and we have developed strong relationships with them over the years by being on the ground here. It’s really down to seeing hidden potential: a path to transforming the company into something better and more valuable. To do that, you need to know the target very well, and you need to bring a vision and some special ingredients. I think that Advent has plenty of these.
How have you seen Advent’s culture of collaboration drive impact both internally and at portfolio companies?
Advent combines our local presence with the leverage, resources, and expertise of our sector colleagues, and we do it systematically and at scale. I’m deeply Italian, so I can make a connection when we sit down with a local entrepreneur; but I’ll also bring along a colleague from Boston or London who have advised on five investments in that sector. This is basic stuff, but we do it very well and at scale.
“It’s really down to seeing hidden potential: a path to transforming the company into something better and more valuable.”
Francesco Casiraghi
Managing Director, Advent
What advice would you give to a new hire at Advent to set them up for long-term success?
This is an apprenticeship job and there is a lot to learn. It’s like learning to paint – the renaissance masters started by observing their older colleagues and gradually practiced painting parts of the background. Only when they learned the trade by their masters did they paint the central subjects on the canvas. It’s the same for us, your opinion matters your voice will be heard, but you also have to be patient: observe, learn and practice and be a team player.
What about your job inspires and drives you?
Every day you do something different: you look at a new business, you encounter a challenge in an existing company, or you need to exit another one. It can be stressful, and it comes with a lot of responsibility that people from outside the industry don’t necessarily see. But the absence of routine and repetition, the joy of learning, and getting to raise the bar with incredibly talented people from many different backgrounds – that makes it an amazing job.
What is the best career advice you have received?
As well as being a professor of chemistry, my father was a mountaineering guide. He taught me that when you’re in the mountains and the weather turns, you need to keep calm, keep going, and get to the hut. That has been an invaluable lesson: keep a steady pace, give 105% and get out of the storm.
