I'm in progress insights into the proposals presented by the counterparties in view of a new partnership for Ansaldo Sts. She confirmed it Alexander Pansa, managing director and general manager of Finmeccanica - the group that controls the transport company -, underlining that an evaluation process has been "undertaken aimed at defining the best strategic and industrial position for the railway transport sector, which is proceeding in line with what communicated to the market".
Pansa specified that "since its listing in March 2006 up to today, Ansaldo Sts has grown by creating value for the shareholders, and has only recently been identified the validity of a possible aggregation with an international partner. In respect of the reserve and confidentiality that must characterize the process, I can confirm that, as decided by the Board of Directors on 19 March, in-depth analyzes are underway with the counterparties who have expressed interesting proposals".
In the meantime, however, the shares on the Stock Exchange of Finmeccanica and Ansaldo STS continue to discount the farewell of General Electric to the negotiation for the purchase of the transport company, losing 1,24% and 2,86% respectively earlier in the afternoon.
“I initiated the first informal contacts ten years ago and nothing came of it – said the number one of GE Europe last week, Ferdinando Becalli-Falco, regarding the possible acquisition of Ansald Sts –. When things drag on for too long it's hard to close. There is no margin for reaching an agreement”.
The news reduces the speculative appeal on Ansaldo's shares, given that GE was given the pole position to take over the company put up for sale by the group controlled by the Treasury.
Experts from Equity however confirmed the recommendation to "buy" on Ansaldo and "hold" on Finmeccanica, while the analysts of Intermonte confirmed their "buy" recommendation on Finmeccanica, while emphasizing that they see a possible change at the top of the company negatively, as hypothesized in recent weeks. A change at the helm of Finmeccanica could in fact delay the group's restructuring process.
