In a few hours, a new season will open in the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Tomorrow the ordinary and extraordinary shareholders' meeting will meet to initiate the expected change of top management. For this reason, the outgoing president, Franco Bassanini, has sent a letter to the shareholder foundations, the board of directors, the board of statutory auditors and the parliamentary supervisory commission in which he places the mandate at the disposal of the assembly. The text was sent for information to the premier, Matteo Renzi, and to the minister of the Treasury, Pier Carlo Padoan.
"I would like to clarify - reads the text - that the Government's request was not motivated, as far as I know, by negative judgments either on the work of the administrators or even less on the activity of CDP and the results achieved".
The Executive, therefore, would have decided to renew the top management of the Cassa to "install a new board that has a three-year mandate ahead of it and can set up the 2016-2018 business plan right now".
If, on the other hand, a rejection had come, “I would have felt it my duty – continues Bassanini – to defend the extraordinary work done in recent years” by the whole Cdp, starting with the managing director, also outgoing, Giovanni Gorno Tempini.
Attached in PDF is the complete text of the letter, of which we report below a significant passage:
“From 2008 to 2015 CDP's total assets reached around €400 billion (mid-2015 estimate), almost double compared to the end of 2008, with a significant increase in the stock of loans to customers and banks (106 €/bn, +29%) and in the investment portfolio (30 €/bn, more than doubled). At the same time, an important investment program in government bonds was launched (35€/bn in 2015), also in support of the state budget, especially in times of strong tension on the public debt. Moreover, these investment objectives were achieved without affecting the resources made available to the State to finance the public debt, through the treasury current account, which went from just over €100 billion to around €150 billion.
Between December 2008 and March 2013, CDP's share of the entire stock of loans to public entities has grown from 39% to 47% while the share relating only to local authorities (Provinces and Municipalities) increased from 46% to 51%. As regards the flows of new loans to local authorities (Regions, Provinces and Municipalities), CDP's share grew from 76% in December 2008 to 98% in December 2013 (latest data available): CDP is now de facto the only lender in the medium-long term of investments by local authorities.
Profit growth
The expansion of CDP's activities was also achieved, also guaranteeing important economic results. The average profit after taxes in the period 2009-2014 was 2,2 €/bn, more than 60% more than the profit recorded in 2008. Adequate and progressively growing returns were guaranteed to shareholders, with an average return on share capital rising from 7% to over 20%. Despite the strong expansion of CDP's activities, the cost/income ratio remained exceptionally low”.
