CS Holding — Weekly Focus

This week the headline numbers were astronomical: SpaceX filed the largest IPO in history at a $1.7 trillion valuation, yet the real alpha for anyone buying Italian SMEs sits two tiers down, in companies where 76% have no AI plan and a deal still closes on bank debt.

The week in numbers: SpaceX aims to raise $80 billion at a $1.7 trillion valuation, the biggest IPO ever. In the US, the combined SBA loan cap for acquirers doubles from $5M to $10M. In Italy, WindeX bought OMEPS, roughly EUR 8M EBITDA, on bank debt plus mezzanine. And POLIMI's observatory found 76% of SMEs have no AI plan at all.

01 SEARCH FUND USD 10M

SBA's acquisition loan cap doubles to $10M: US searchers buy bigger

From July 4, the combined SBA-backed financing cap doubles from $5M to $10M: up to $5M via the 7(a) program plus $5M via 504. For US acquirers that means closing larger deals, especially asset-heavy targets in manufacturing, construction and logistics. It's a structural reminder that the cost of capital in American ETA is policy-driven, while in Italy a search fund still finances itself deal by deal, on bank debt and equity syndicates, with no equivalent government guarantee.

02 M&A ITALY €8M EBITDA

WindeX buys OMEPS from its founder in an EUR 8M-EBITDA club deal

The WindeX Investment Club, a club deal of around 15 entrepreneurs, acquired OMEPS, a tank-trailer and semi-trailer maker in Battipaglia (Salerno), near Naples, from founders Vincenzo Munzio and Annamaria Liguori. The target generates roughly EUR 31M in revenue, EUR 8M EBITDA and EUR 6M net cash, with more than 150 employees.

Financing came from UniCredit and Banca IFIS as senior arrangers, plus a subordinated loan from Clessidra Capital Credit's Private Debt Fund II. It's WindeX's third deal, taking cumulative capital deployed to about EUR 100M: the Italian lower-mid-market playbook in one transaction, founder succession funded by bank debt and mezzanine.

03 AI 76% SMEs

POLIMI study: 76% of Italian SMEs have no AI plan at all

The Politecnico di Milano's SME Digital Innovation Observatory (May 21) maps the lag: 76% of Italian small and mid-sized firms have neither invested in AI nor plan to, only 7% run structured AI training, and 47% did zero R&D in the past three years. Spend is rising, but it's concentrated in cloud and infrastructure, not advanced technology.

The flip side is the prize for those who act. OpenAI data presented with Confartigianato in Milan shows Italian SMEs already using AI save 5.2 hours per week, over 270 a year, with 96% reporting time savings. With Gemini 3.5 Flash now a free default for more than a billion users, the cost of entry is near zero. For the acquirer, the low starting base of targets is precisely the value-creation lever.

04 WILDCARD USD 1.7T

SpaceX files the largest IPO in history at $1.7 trillion

SpaceX made its S-1 prospectus public on May 20, setting up what would be the largest IPO in history: a raise of around $80 billion at roughly a $1.7 trillion valuation, more than double Saudi Aramco's record. The listed entity is now SpaceX and xAI combined, following February's all-stock acquisition, with consolidated 2025 revenue of $18.67 billion driven by Starlink. The signal for an operator is clear: capital concentrates in rare, durable, cash-generative platforms, the same boring-compounder logic that underpins SME buy-and-build.

BIG PICTURE

Read together, the four stories make one argument: while global capital chases trillion-dollar platforms, the Italian operator's edge stays two tiers down, buying EUR 8M-EBITDA SMEs in succession and installing the AI 76% of them will never adopt on their own. Financing splits the two worlds: the US just doubled its SBA guarantee to $10M, while Italy still stacks bank debt and mezzanine deal by deal. The thesis is clear; execution is where it's won.

In the SMEs you've acquired, is the real bottleneck capital or the absence of AI skills? And who already has an AI playbook ready to install in the first 100 days post-close?