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Finance is headed to Milan
From manufacturing hub to business centre: one-third of the multinationals is here
The 3,600 international companies active in Milan generate a turnover of 167.6 billion euro (30% of the total turnover generated by international companies in Italy) and employ 280 thousand people.
The figures come from the Reprint databank (a project by Ice, R&P and Politecnico di Milano) and are included in the “Ema dossier” that the Municipality of Milan presented and the end of July in Bruxelles to promote Milan as a candidate to host the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products. A difficult match (other 19 cities are competing for the “trophy”), but critical for the city to consolidate that trend of transformation into modern and international metropolis already started a couple of years ago and which found in the Expo 2015 a final accelerator. Another important factor for this trend may come from the financial activities after the exit of Great Britain from the European Union.
A more attractive city
“After the standstill due to the crisis, Milan has resumed in the past few years attracting foreign companies and capitals”, explains the economist Marco Mutinelli, responsible for the Reprint databank, which each year issues the report “Productive Milan”. While Lombardy absorbs almost a half of the multinationals operating in Italy, the province of Milan only hosts one-third, with a number that has risen by 7.5% between 2009 and 2016.
If analyzed in its components, this trend reflects the transformation of the city from manufacturing and production hub to business centre. In fact, concerning production, the Province of Milan hosts 18% of the headquarters of the companies with foreign participation, but only 12% of their manufacturing plants. For what concerns services, Mutinelli observes, Milan and its territory absorb over 50% of the international companies in Italy. If we consider strictly the manufacturing sector, this percentage shrinks. Multinationals such as Nestlè, Lactaliso (among those recently arrived), and Whirlpool have established their manufacturing and logistic plants in the surrounding areas or even in other areas, but they chose Milan for their operational, directional and commercial centres, or for their data, design and research centres.
Italy’s business centre
“The city is more and more focused on the services sector, as it happened for other big international metropolis, after all – notes Multinelli – and it’s nowadays able to provide the big foreign companies with all the qualified services needed in a headquarter: managerial skills, qualified personnel, vendors, infrastructures….”.
And Milan seems to not stop this driving force started with the Expo 2015: on the table there are projects (public and private) for over 10 billion, that in the next ten years will change the face of the city, from the ex-Expo area to the suburbs, from the old town to the ex-train stations. At support of this challenge, might come the so called “special law” for Milan, at the moment discussed at the Parliament, that sees fiscal incentives for those who invest in the city, employing at least 50 people, or the exemption from tax for the benefits of the managers who move to Milan.
The map of the International groups
The list of the multinationals already present in Milan would be very long: from industry to finance, from high-tech to IT, the city of Lombardy hosts the great majority of the Italian headquarters of the international companies, including the protagonist of the new economy such as Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Amazon. The international players have here their technological and commercial hub from which they manage the whole country or, sometimes, several European countries (such in the case of Huawei, Discovery or Whirlpool). The multinationals are indeed the main buyers or tenants of the most recent and innovative real estate developments: from the business district of Porta Nuova to the skyscrapers of City Life, till the renovated or undergoing requalification buildings in the old town or in the suburbs.
Finance
Being the main Italian financial hub (with 10 thousand operators in the sector and about 200 banks with their headquarters in the city), Milan hosts the branches of over 40 foreign banks. Even though this number is limited if compared to the big financial capitals of the world, there are several operations in process that may benefit from Brexit. Among the groups already present, the German Deutsche Bank, with its headquarter in Bicocca, and Credit Suisse that has moved some marketing and product development functions to Milan. Bnp Paribas will shortly move its Italian headquarter in the new business centre of Porta Nuova. Concerning the insurance companies, Allianz will move within the year 3 thousand employees in the Isozaki Tower in City Life.
The high-tech giants
Also, the high-tech giants are aiming at Milan. Microsoft, for instance, has invested 30 million euro for the next three years in the Microsoft House launched last February inside the innovative building designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & Dc Meuron in Pasubio Street. The Amazon operational offices are expected to move within the year in a new building in the Porta Nuova area, with a capacity of up to 1,100 corporate employees (currently they’re 400). The new Porta Nuova business centre hosts also the technological district of Samsung and the Google offices, that since 2014 has its headquarter in a building of 5 thousand Sq m on 11 floors.
The Italian offices of Facebook and Linkedin are also present, and, for what concerns the e-commerce, Alibaba and Banzai. Perhaps Zalando will choose Milan for its logistic hub announced recently in Northern Italy, which will serve also other European countries. Regarding the IT, about 70% of the multinationals active in Italy have their offices in Milan, which is not only one of the most connected cities in Europe, but it features also 70% of the Italian start ups, mostly operating in this sector.
Fashion and design
Milan is well known as international fashion and design capital. Among the fashion brands headquartered in Milan, we can find Ralph Lauren, Pandora, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Richemont, and VF.
Source: Il Sole 24 Ore
Translator: Cristina Ambrosi