ANSALDO ENERGIA, SIEMENS THROWS IN THE SPONGE. AT FINMECCANICA +2,5% THE WEIGHT OF PANSA GROWS
The Stock Exchange celebrates, but the winds of war at the Finmeccanica headquarters (+2,5%) are far from dissipated. In summary, this is the first reaction of the markets to the blitz announced last Friday: the descent into the lead of the Italian consortium (Strategic fund, Camozzi group, Acciaierie Venete and Davide Usberti of Gas Plus) for the purchase of 30 percent of Ansaldo Energia.
A move that responds to several objectives: 1) protect the "Italian spirit" of the group, retaining 55% in the hands of Finmeccanica and FSI; 2) aggregate a conspicuous nucleus of small and medium-sized enterprises around the Fondo Strategico Italiano without breaking the statute which prohibits the FSI from acquiring majority shares; 3) maintain a 25% stake in Finmeccanica itself however allowing the group to collect a cash share (around 400 million against the 700 offered by Siemens for 55%) and, above all, to deconsolidate Ansaldo Energia's debts (1,2 billion turnover in 2011) from the group.
A "political" solution that the competitor Siemens has already taken note of. According to the Financial Times, in fact, the match has already been decided: "Siemens renounces the Italian operation", writes the newspaper on sources from the Munich headquarters, where it is announced that the German group has no intention of raising the initial offer of 1,3 billion already the subject of the negotiations conducted with the staff of the president Giuseppe Orsi.
Seen through the eyes of Siemens, which together with General Electric controls the turbine market, the Ansaldo Energia operation had a defensive flavor, explains analyst Martin Prozesky of Bernstein Research. “The reason for proceeding with such an acquisition, the most important since 2007 – he explains – was not so much the opening of new markets in the Mediterranean area as the concern of prevent any competitor from emerging countries from getting their hands on the know-how and technology of the Italian company.
Beyond the industrial value, the operation has a precise political value. The entry into the scene of FSI marks a point in favor of Alessandro Pansa, general manager of Finmeccanica but also a member of the board of directors of FSI, against the president Giuseppe Orsi, protagonist of the negotiations with the Germans of Siemens. One last piece in the delicate chess game that has the Italian defense holding as its stage: Orsi is an advocate of the line of transfers of "no core" shareholdings (Breda, Ansaldo Energia, Sts) at any cost, without any hesitation towards foreign buyers. A line that Minister Corrado Passera does not share and which is the basis of the consortium set up by the FSI (with the active collaboration of Pansa).
But the dissent is much deeper. It is no secret that President Orsi, promoted to the top of the holding company under pressure from the League, in government at the time, does not enjoy the confidence of Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli. Nor has judicial news helped restore a climate of normality. Orsi, in a conversation at the restaurant with the former president of the IOR, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, intercepted by the investigators, brought up Grilli claiming that the minister's ex-wife would have obtained advice from Finmeccanica, a statement denied by the results of the same internal audit of Finmeccanica but, strangely, never made public by Orsi (a choice that enraged the minister).
In this context, it seemed that the showdown should take place tomorrow at Palazzo Chigi, in a meeting convened to evaluate the possible scenarios for Finmeccanica after the wedding between Bae and EADS. But, once the heritage among the big names in European defense faded, the urgency of drawing up a framework of new alliances in Europe and beyond has disappeared. At least apparently because the malaise of Finmeccanica, which affects governance, finance, industrial investment choices and alliances is no less urgent.
