Milan (AFP)
Almost three years after the murderous collapse of the Genoa bridge, the Benetton family agreed on Thursday to cede their stake in Italian highways to a public consortium to close a painful chapter in their history.
After long negotiations on the price of the transaction, the board of directors of Atlantia, a holding company controlled by the Benettons, approved the offer of the consortium led by the Italian Caisse des Dépôts (CDP) for the purchase of its 88% stake in Autostrade per l'Italia (Aspi).
Since the collapse of the Genoa viaduct in August 2018, of which Autostrade is the manager, the Benetton family have been under strong pressure to sell their share.
The offer, which values 100% of Autostrade at 9.3 billion euros, had been approved ten days earlier by Atlantia shareholders at a general meeting.
The first toll motorway network in Italy managing a total of 3,000 km across the country, Autostrade will thus return mainly to the bosom of the Italian State after being privatized in 1999.
Ironically, it was the head of the Italian government Mario Draghi, former director of the Treasury and prime contractor for a series of privatizations, who then entrusted the reins of Autostrade to the Benettons before taking them over 22 years later. .
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The Italian state had also returned in April to another privatization, by regaining control of the giant steelworks in difficulty Ilva, 26 years after having sold it to the Riva family.
- Serious breaches -
After the Morandi Bridge tragedy, which claimed the lives of 43 people, Atlantia found itself in turmoil as the investigation revealed serious shortcomings in the maintenance of the bridge.
The former government led by Giuseppe Conte had launched a procedure for a possible revocation of the Atlantia motorway concessions, before concluding an agreement with the Benettons in July 2020.
The agreement concerned a capital increase reserved for CDP, followed by the exit of Autostrade from the Atlantia perimeter and its listing on the stock exchange.
This pact also provided for a major maintenance and investment plan and the payment by Autostrade of 3.4 billion euros in compensation for the collapse of the Genoa bridge.
But the negotiations between Atlantia and the state dragged on, with some shareholders of the group opposing what they saw as an "expropriation".
The public consortium, which is expected to take over Autostrade in early 2022, is 51% controlled by the Caisse des Dépôts investment arm, CDP Equity, with the remaining 49% being shared by the Blackstone and Macquarie funds.
- Overwhelming investigation -
For the Benetton family - also the owner of the clothing chains of the same name, the Autogrill restaurant and the airports in Rome - this sale marks the painful end of their adventure on the Italian highways.
The tragedy in Genoa has tarnished its image in Italy, where it has been strongly criticized for the lack of investment in infrastructure.
Faulty controls, under-investment, negligence: after nearly three years of investigation, the Italian public prosecutor's office delivered overwhelming conclusions at the end of April for the concessionaire of the Genoa bridge.
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The Morandi motorway bridge, located on an essential axis for trade between southern and northern Italy, had collapsed, causing dozens of vehicles to fall.
"Between the inauguration [of the bridge] in 1967 and the collapse - therefore for 51 years - there was no minimum maintenance intervention to reinforce the stay cables of the pillar number 9", which sagged this that day, the magistrates noted.
The Atlantia board of directors had repeatedly deemed insufficient the offer submitted by the CDP, before resigning to accept it, under pressure from the Benetton family who have expressed their willingness to turn the page.
Sign of the tensions between the management of Atlantia and its main shareholder (30.2%), Sabrina Benetton, daughter of Gilberto Benetton, co-founder of the family empire who died in 2018, slammed the door of the board of directors in March.
© 2021 AFP