Remember when the Five Stars stood on the balcony of Palazzo Chigi, elated by the approval of the controversial issue CBI by the Conte 1 government, did they shout to the world that poverty had been abolished? Of course it didn't go like this and just the other day Istat documented that, despite the benefits of the citizen's income, poverty is growing. But now comes another own goal for the ineffable grillini who, after the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, had been the most determined to reclaim the expropriation of the Benettons by taking control of Autostrade away from the Venetian family. Things went a little differently.
Autostrade has changed hands after twenty years control has returned to the public with the transfer of the majority stake from Atlantia of the Benetton group to Cassa depositi e prestiti and to the international funds Blackstone and Macquarie. But not only was the change of control paid dearly by CDP and funds, but the joke of the joke was the decision of the minority shareholders of Autostrade per l'Italia not to sell the Autostrade shares to avoid heavy losses. Conclusion: the State pays dearly for Autostrade but does not have total control. In short, no nationalization.
Precisely in "Il Fatto Daily", the sounding board of the Five Stars, a refined economist like Giorgio Ragazzi, previously the author of a book entitled "La svendita di Autostrade" had already highlighted that the purchase of 88% of Autostrade for Italy (Aspi) for 9,3 billion it had indeed been a deal but only for the seller and that is precisely for the notorious Benettons that the grillini wanted to implacably punish. “The IRI – wrote Ragazzi on 7 June in an article entitled "Buying Aspi from the Benettons is a really bad deal" – sold Autostrade valuing 7,7% of the company at 100 billion. Twenty years later the State, through CDP, buys back 51% valuing 9,3 billion euros for 100% of the company. The state pays more for a company that today has many more debts than it did then and, above all, has 16 residual concessions, while in 2000 it had 38. A really bad “deal””.
"The acquisition of control of Aspi - continues Ragazzi - could generate good profits (in the future) for the Cdp and for the foreign funds that participate in the purchase, but it is far from clear whether there will be any benefits for users of the highway".
But that's not all. In fact, the French, German and Chinese minority shareholders of Aspi, who hold about 12% of the company, have decided not to sell their shares by not exercising the co-sale right because they would have recorded significant capital losses of around 600 million of Euro. So public control yes but not total and no nationalization. The final shareholding structure of Autostrade per l'Italia will therefore be made up of Cdp, which will hold 44,9%, the Blackstone and Macquarie funds with 21,5% each, by Appia Investment (Allianz, EdF and Dif) with 7% and the Chinese Silk Road fund with 5%.
Once again the dilettantism and populism of those who howl at the moon but do not know the reality of the market are therefore served. Too bad that citizens and users pay the bill.
More than amateurishness, they underestimated the Benettons' ability to lobby.