"With the OK from the EU Antitrust and the signing today at the MEF, the operation of the integration of the Anas group into FS was closed". They announced it the heads of Fs and Anas Renato Mazzoncini and Gianni Vittorio Armani. The one born today is therefore, as had been announced, a group with a turnover of 11,2 billion and with a planned cost cut of 800 million. The effective capital increase subscribed by the Ministry of the Economy is 2,86 billion and therefore formalizes the birth of the first integrated railway and road pole in Europe for inhabitants served and investments.
“We concluded the operation today, after waiting for the OK from the Antitrust – he explains the CEO of FS Renato Mazzoncini -. It is evident that there was no conglomeration because both companies are and remain of the MEF. I cannot hide my satisfaction with this result, which confirms the group's growth: we are not yet a giant at a European level, because beyond the Alps we are seen as a player trying to recover an important position. And there are no Anas risks transferred to FS, as I have heard, because Anas has never had a construction risk, it manages infrastructure on behalf of the Ministry of Finance".
For president of Anas Gianni Vittorio Armani, on the other hand, the operation means that "today we acquire a shareholder capable of investing in the development of the company: with the contribution of FS, horizons of investments are opened up that we did not have before, we were a company with a hat in hand and a 6 month program. Now for the first time we have a program contract with 33 billion investments". For this "a completely new page opens for Anas, which focuses on technology in infrastructure, security and foreign investments".
During the press conference, Mazzoncini and Armani also pointed out that the entry of Anas into the FS Group allows for the infrastructural integration envisaged in the 2017-2026 Business Plan to be achieved. In fact, it will be possible to optimize the operating and maintenance costs of the networks, generating savings of at least 400 million euros over the next ten years. The objective is to enhance the quality and safety standards of the road network and maintenance, starting from the supervision of the roadway, viaducts and tunnels which over 10 thousand km, where the road and railway infrastructures run side by side, can be carried out in an integrated way by the operators of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and Anas.
