Of companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, 123 are not contestable. In ratio, it does more than one out of two: the 53%. It already seems like a lot, but that's not all: the percentage rises a lot if we consider the weight of these companies on the overall value of Piazza Affari. Second the latest data provided by Consob – which refer to the end of 2018 – the listed and non-scalable Italian Spas represent 77% of the capitalization of the Milanese list. It is the sign of a capitalism that is still very rigid.
A large portion of Borsa Italiana is in the hands of majority shareholders who hold absolute control of the shareholdings. A very concentrated structure, which protects the ownership structures - in the majority of cases family members - but at the same time underlines the lack of dynamism that characterizes the economic-financial system of our country.
Corporations with widespread ownershipin fact, they are less and less (although much larger): 13 shares in all, which are worth 20,5% of the capitalization of Milan.
In detail, family-owned companies they are 152 and weigh exactly one third of the market capitalization of the list. Publicly owned companies, on the other hand, are 10% of the total and account for 38% of the value. Finally, in 23 companies control is in the hands of shareholder agreements.
As regards the composition of the shareholder base, the institutional investors they are present in 62 listed Italian companies (60 in 2017), equal to around 27% of the market, and play the role of significant shareholders in 13 companies, especially small ones.
- foreign investors, however, hold significant stakes in 51 issuers, including mid- to large-cap companies.
Coming to 2019, last year saw the highest rate of dissent from institutional investors on remuneration policies. In particular, the votes against and abstentions reached 44% of the shares held by institutions, or 12 percentage points more than in 2012.
