The construction site is still at a standstill at kilometer zero, near Palazzo Chigi. And Piazza Affari, after a heavy downward start (up to -4% in the first trades), gives limited confidence in Atlantia stock which in the afternoon absorbs the losses and moves into positive territory (+1,3% in closing), in the hope that someone (namely Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte) will find the key to the matter before the X hour, i.e. the date of 30 June when the shareholders of Autostrade per l'Italia, a subsidiary of Atlantia, could decide to unilaterally terminate the Convention with the State. The situation, by dint of postponements, has become explosive: Atlantia complains that nine (sic 9) proposals made by Autostrade per l'Italia have not received a response. Meanwhile, at the government level, it makes itself felt the firm opposition of the Five Star Movement to an agreement any, in the name of a battle of identity that has the value of a symbol. But the stock exchange is convinced that there is room for a compromise: on the one hand, a limited cut in tariffs, on the other, the end of a conflict that is putting at risk the fate of a company also owned by large international groups.
For this reason, the market has welcomed the opening of Luigi Di Maio who, after years of total closure, has assumed the role of mediator: no to sterile controversies, yes to the search for an agreement on concessions in harmony with the minister dem Paola De Micheli. Small hints that however serve to cool the tension after the harsh letter sent on Friday evening by Atlantia, exasperated by the delay in disbursing a loan requested from CDP by Aspi (200 million on an existing credit line of 1,2 billion) and by the threatens to foreclose access to the public guarantee on the loan guaranteed by SACE under the Liquidity decree.
Hence the decision of freeze all scheduled investments, excluding those on routine maintenance. Moreover, the public guarantee is imposed by the difficulty of accessing credit on the market because the credit on its repayment capacity was downgraded to "junk" by the rating agencies after the regulatory changes introduced "unilaterally and retroactively" with the 35 of the Milleproroghe decree law which led to the downgrade of the rating of Atlantia and Aspi to "sub investment grade".
The reactions of the Five Stars before the Foreign Minister's openings were harsh, interested in not exacerbating the challenge on the eve of the European comparison on the Recovery Fund. “Ours is not a position of rigidity, it is the position of wanting to open a dialogue because time is running out”. said the Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Transport Giancarlo Cancelleri to Start, on Sky Tg24. "Now - he explained - we will start an internal debate on the Autostrade issue within the government majority, we bring the idea of revoking the concession through the company's receivership, the possibility of using Anas instead of Spea, which has practically faked everyone reports on the safety of viaducts and tunnels. We want to use a state-owned company so that it can effectively check what is wrong within those infrastructures and report it to the commissioner who will have the Aspi men intervene.
It will not be easy to find mediation on the main issues: the cut in tariffs and the sale of a share of ASPI. Or of Atlantia itself. Giuseppe Conte, who has allegedly decided to reject all the proposals put forward by Atlantia so far, will soon have to demonstrate his ability as a mediator together with the Treasury Minister after many postponements Roberto Gualtieri who would like to place the solution of the dispute among the conditions for the Sace loan.
(Last update: 18.07 pm on 25 May).
