There is no doubt that the most dramatic case on the agenda of Italian industry and finance today is that of Ilva, suspended as it is between liquidation, receivership, nationalization and piecemeal sale to foreign groups. Thousands of jobs are at stake but also the health of the people of Taranto and the very future of the Italian steel industry. But Ilva will not be the only case to warm up the imminent summer of Italian industry and finance. What about Fiat? The match that is about to lead Lingotto to the definitive conquest of 100% of Chrysler and then to the merger and listing on Wall Street is still long and not without pitfalls. But, with all due respect to those who had already issued sentences against Sergio Marchionne, honesty and intellectual independence would like it to be recognized that, for now, the Italian-Canadian manager has won the American bet and saved everyone the jobs of Fiat in Italy, as also emerged from the recent meeting of Fiat with the new Minister of Economic Development Flavio Zanonato, who seems to want to base his government action on a commendable pragmatism.
Then there are RCS, Camfin and Finmeccanica: the relaunch plan of the group that publishes the Corriere della Sera will be rewritten but the green light from the assembly for the recapitalization is an important step. For Camfin, on which control of one of the few large industrial groups such as Pirelli depends, the battle between Tronchetti Provera and Malacalza, with the possible launch of a takeover bid which heats up the Stock Exchange and which sees the Clessidra fund as the protagonist, remains open to all the solutions. Finally, the appointments to the top management and above all to the presidency of Finmeccanica will be important, which should finally close the effects of the sad season of judicial investigations and allow the national champion of aerospace and defense to return to concentrate on industrial strategies.
The solution of all these open cases, even if it were positive, will not be enough by itself to make Italy recover the 25 years lost as Governor Ignazio Visco denounced in his final remarks at the Banca d'Italia meeting on Friday, but it would certainly demonstrate that, beyond the pure industrial or financial sphere, our country remains a vital country capable of dealing with the problems on which its future partly depends. However, there is no doubt that, together with the Ilva emergency, the case that has the greatest strategic depth is the one opened in recent days by the president of Telecom Italia, Franco Bernabè, with the launch of the spin-off of the network, a unique case in the world if the precedent of New Zealand is excluded. A relaunch of the largest Italian telephone group may derive from this operation, but above all a more competitive and more transparent structure of the market and a boost to innovation, to the strengthening and modernization of a sector such as the telecommunications sector which has suffered the blow, can derive not always fair, unregulated Internet giants like Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook.
But what exactly does the unbundling of the Telecom network mean and how will it happen? Precisely because this is an unprecedented case in Europe, it is evident that we are moving on unexplored terrain and that the judgment of the regulator (Agcom) will be essential for the outcome of the whole operation. However, in an interview released yesterday to Il Sole 24 Ore, Bernabè began to clarify four fundamental points.
First: the unbundling will not concern the entire Telecom network but that part that concerns "essential non-replicable structures" and "not instead the part of the intelligent network that innovates, which is also available to competitors, which Telecom will keep". Second: "The access network company must be - it is Bernabè again who speaks - a utility such as Snam or Terna, which draws its resources from a regulatory structure stable in the long term with predictable revenues and margins which allow planning investments” effectively making it a separate and transparent entity. Thirdly: Telecom Italia, which – let us not forget – has been a private company for over 15 years, intends to maintain the majority of the network company when it spins off the network by merging it into a special company. Fourth: on the governance of the new network company, which Cassa depositi e prestiti (Cdp) should enter through the Italian Strategic Fund, Telecom is nonetheless open to seeking the best solutions "as long as they are reasonable and consistent with the company's aims" .
It is evident that the platform outlined by Bernabè is a first basis for discussion with the regulator, with Europe, with the Government and with the new possible shareholders of the network company, with the market. There are many points and values yet to be defined. However, the first appreciations of the Cassa's top management bode well. However, one cannot fail to agree with the president of the CDP itself, Franco Bassanini, when he observes that obviously the timing of the entire operation, like the perimeter of the spin-off, is dictated by whoever controls the network, i.e. Telecom itself, but "in the interest of the country it would be good if it were fast". However, it will not be a matter of days or weeks but it will certainly take months and months. The important thing is that you reach the finish line.
