“Xi Jinping does not believe in private property. If you are doing business with a Chinese company, you are doing business with the Chinese Communist Party.”
With that warning, Mike Pompeo, former US Secretary of State and CIA Director, set the tone for the inaugural Portofino Conversation, hosted by Luxembourg-based Optimum Asset Management (€1,6 billion AUM). The three-day summit brought investors, entrepreneurs, financial professionals and political leaders to the Italian Riviera to discuss geopolitics as a core private markets risk.
Pompeo’s keynote gave the event its sharpest takeaways. He described China as the main strategic challenge facing liberal democracies, stating that “the real strategic challenge is not Russia, but the Chinese Communist Party”. His remarks also covered Ukraine, Iran and the Middle East. On Tehran, he cast doubt on a lasting agreement: “The Iranians have violated every agreement they have signed in the past.” He also called for closer Europe-US cooperation and more investment in defence, cybersecurity, energy and critical infrastructure.
Later, Italy was not simply the summit’s setting; it became a case study in the wider debate over Europe’s competitiveness. Matteo Renzi, the former Italian Prime Minister, joined Deputy Minister Edoardo Rixi, Undersecretaries Claudio Durigon and Matilde Siracusano, Liguria Region President Marco Bucci and other public figures in discussions on reform, infrastructure and growth in the country.
Industry figures broadened the debate. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti addressed savings and national development, while Antonio Gozzi of Duferco, Confindustria Representative for European Strategic Autonomy, spoke to the industrial questions facing Italy and Europe. Sessions on pension funds ENPAV, CNPR, Cassa Forense and many others, meanwhile underlined private capital’s role in financing the real economy.
For Optimum and its Italian partners Alberto Matta, Rodolfo Misitano, Enrico Imbraguglio and Andrea Suriano, the aim was to create a forum beyond the standard investor event, bringing together “people with different experiences and perspectives”, where “economics, growth, investments, geopolitics and competitiveness were at the heart of the debate.”
For investors, politics is no longer peripheral. Decisions now affect supply chains, technology access, energy resilience, data security and infrastructure. Valuation and growth still matter, but so does an asset’s ability to withstand a more fractured global order.
The first Portofino Conversation by Optimum therefore pointed to a more demanding private markets environment. The question was not whether geopolitics matters to capital, but how quickly investors can build it into due diligence, portfolio construction and long-term strategy.
A full version of this article is also available in French.
This promotional article was written by Optimum Asset Management as part of the company's membership with the Paperjam Club. If you would like to become a member of the Club, please contact us at club@paperjam.lu.