“Golden power is a tool that the government has for avoid the sale of strategic assets to, shall we say, foreign powers". The words spoken by Mario Draghi have not yet produced an immediate effect on the Stock Exchange. In particular, the shares of Cnh Industrial, the subsidiary Exor which has practically doubled its quotation in six months, i.e. since the pressing of the Fang's Chinese, interested in buying Iveco.
After an initial coolness, semiconductor stocks began to move, the sector in which, Draghi himself revealed, the government exercised the golden power for the first time to stop the Chinese purchase of an Italian company – the Lpe of Baranzate in the Milan area – an extremely "hot" topic given the current hunger for chips on the part of the industry which threatens to slow down the recovery. At the end of the morning theand shares of Osai, a company listed on the Aim which operates in the field of automation, recorded a good rise while They grows more dramatically. Too early to say whether or not the leap is due to the promotion of the prime minister, but there is a sign.
There is no need to underestimate the scope of the premier's clarification in a matter that undoubtedly represents a raw nerve in the relationship between economics and politics. Not only in Italy. Suffice it to recall Macron's hostility to the Canadians' offer of Couche-Tard for Carrefour. To motivate the no to the Paris operation, defying ridicule, he appealed to "food security" thwarting the will of the shareholders themselves.
Draghi, while reiterating the words of Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, a Northern League supporter and therefore in the odor of sovereignty, set very specific stakes: "The golden power - he said - must be used when necessary and in the cases provided for by law". Which certainly applies to the case of chips, at the center of an emergency caused by the floods in Texas and the climate emergency in Japan but which is assuming global political dimensions, given China's aims on Taiwan and Intel's decision to repatriate production in Asia to the USA. In short, there is ample material to talk about "national strategic interest".
But Draghi's sortie offers the opportunity to remind the general public that the Italian presence in the chips is not limited to Stm (-0,33%) but there are jewels that are coveted by the greats, starting with China. Let's limit ourselves to the patrol of listed securities:
- Eles + 5,2% today in Piazza Affari it is a leader in the production of equipment for testing and controlling the reliability of semiconductors, active in the aerospace & defence, automotive and consumer electronics markets. The strength of Eles, which has been active for thirty years, is the ability to provide solutions that allow customers to enhance chip reliability and accelerate the marketing of products at much lower costs than those of traditional tests, and to guarantee the level of "Zero defects".
- I dared, treated at Aim, operates in the sector of industrial process automation.
In addition to the Italian headquarters, Osai has 3 foreign branches, located in Germany, China and the United States of America, supported by over 40 commercial partners for resale and assistance. The company offers solutions based on standard systems or special machines for the assembly and testing of high-tech components for the semiconductor industry, the automotive industry and electronic manufacturing. Exports represent 83% of turnover.
And what about Cnh Industrial (-0,5%)? According to Reuter the due diligence of the Chinese group FAW on IVECO (Truck segment of the group) should be completed by the end of April. FAW should then present its offer to acquire both IVECO and a stake in the engine division (the FPT subsidiary, which develops and manufactures powertrain elements).
Exor, in the recent past, already has rejected a three billion dollar offer. The threat of the use of golden power, once guarantees on Powertrain engines have been received, could be used by the government to obtain commitments and concessions from buyers aimed at maintaining employment levels and the group's activities in Italy.
