About Italian Business Investments

A critical if not dominant factor in deciding whether or not to invest in a business, is often the liability which it presents to its investors.

Starting a new business from scratch and acquiring an existing enterprise is a big investment and therefore also a risk. This has led to many entrepreneurs and companies seeking involvement only with business models which carry limited liability.

Unlike in England and the United States, the limited liability partnership model does not exist.

Italian partnerships, which are called società in nome collettivo (S.n.c.), come with the unappealing prospect of being held unlimitedly liable as a partner or a shareholder. Although the Italian S.A.P.A. is a partnership which allows some of its partners to have limited liability, there must always be a partner who has unlimited liability, meaning that it is not a business model which allows for complete limited liability.