Cut public holdings in utility companies. The latest law of the Monti government wants it and the mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno is preparing to implement it. The March 14, during the next junta that will meet to approve the municipal budget, the Municipality of the capital will decide whether to sell the 21% of its stake in the capital of the utility and the possible sale of the other municipal companies. In this way, the Campidoglio will bring its stake from 51% to 30%.
The shares on the stock market will be sold to the shareholders who want to increase their stake in Acea's capital. Among the most relevant we find Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, which owns 15,035% of the utility, and Gaz de France Suez, with 11,515%. According to analysts, a greater participation of private shareholders would be positive because it would allow Acea to accelerate the achievement of cost efficiencies.
The president of the Capitoline utility, Giancarlo Cremonesi, recalled that "what the shareholders decide to do is not up to the company". Cremonesi underlined that companies that want to maintain their multi-year concessions must reduce the public share below 40% by 2013 and to below 30% by 2015.
As regards the rating cut of Acea from A to A- by the Fitch agency, for Cremonesi it is not the fault of the results of the Roman utility but of the general situation in Italy and the legislative uncertainty in the context of the integrated water system. The lowering of the judgment would therefore be a consequence of the cut to local authorities and would be affected by the extension after the referendum on tariffs, being Acea is the leading water distributor in the country, with over 8 and a half million customers. “It is normal that at the moment it is affected by the legislative uncertainty”, commented Cremonesi.
While as regards the super-utility project, which would also involve A2A, Iren and Hera, it is more of a "fantasy hypothesis" than "concrete initiatives". Even if he doesn't rule out anything, the Acea chairman recalls that there is still no concrete proposal.
At Piazza Affari the Acea stock at 16.45 gains 0,87% to 5,22 euros
