Three months after the death of the founder of Clessidra, the future of one of Italy’s biggest buyout firms still looks precarious.

Claudio Sposito, 60, was the main individual at the Milan-based institution, which was in the middle of raising its third fund. So his death from leukaemia on January 11 understandably caused problems for the business. It triggered a 'key man' clause where investors need to give permission to allow a firm to do deals again.