4.2 Equity capital In addition to credit, Italian firms require equity capital, in order to support the economic recovery and ensure more stable financial conditions. It is estimated that in order to bring the leverage of Italian non-financial companies in line with the European average would require the conversion into equity of debt totaling between € and € billion.
15 Such an operation would be considerable in scope but feasible over the medium term: if completed within five years it would require the transformation into equity every year of debts corresponding to 3 per cent of the total; it would be less arduous during a period of economic growth, above all if accompanied by the reinvestment in firms of a large portion of the earnings distributed every year to shareholders in the form of dividends € billion on average in 2011–12, based on Istat data).