In Piazza Affari the spotlights are on the title of Atlantia. At the opening, the holding company of the Benetton family manages to gain almost 4%, to then retrace slightly and settle at mid-morning on an increase of 3%, at 15,055 euros. It's about the best performance on the Ftse Mib.
Atlantia shares are driven by two factors: the agreement in the final straight for the sale of Autostrade and the now completed sale of a minority stake in Telepass.
THE HIGHWAYS FILE
On the first front, today should really be the decisive day. In the afternoon, the Boards of Atlantia and Cassa depositi e prestiti will meet. After the storm followed the mid-July agreements, the most probable hypothesis is that in the end the Benetton holding company agrees to sell 88% of Aspi to a newco owned by CDP (40%) and by two foreign funds: the American Blackstone and the Australian Macquarie (each of which would have 30%). In this case, Atlantia would renounce the two-track strategy, thus excluding the possibility of splitting Aspi to list it on the Stock Exchange.
THE SALE OF 49% OF TELEPASS
The other novelty fueling speculation on the stock is the sale of a share of Telepass, the group specialized in automatic motorway toll payment systems. In fact, Atlantia signed the contract for sell 49% of the subsidiary to Partners Group, a Swiss private equity fund. The value of the transaction – announced last Saturday – is equal to 1,056 billion euros, in line with the expected valuation of approximately 2 billion for the entire company. However, Atlantia will continue to control the remaining 51% of Telepass and to consolidate the company in the financial statements.
OTHER NUMBERS ON THE SHARE'S PERFORMANCE
On average over the last month, Atlantia's share on the Stock Exchange gained 7,9%, while the performance over the six months is even more brilliant: +18,2%. However, the rally is not enough to recover the losses suffered in the first part of 2020: the performance over the 12 months, in fact, is still negative by 32,4%.
