Just over forty-eight hours after his appointment, the new CEO and general manager of Ferrovie dello Stato, Renato Mazzoncini, dictates the guidelines for the near future of the group after the turmoil of the last few weeks.
The primary objective, agreed with the Mef and with the Government, is to strengthen and enhance the company. Only then will it be possible to think about listing on the stock exchange. Furthermore, he clarified, “the listing will be aimed at a widespread shareholder base. There will not be an industrial shareholder. The Dpcm will exclude this case”, said the new CEO during the press conference held today in Rome.
The arrival of Ferrovie dello Stato on Piazza Affari will therefore not necessarily take place by the end of 2016. The date contained within the Dpcm, Mazzoncini specified again, "is only a perspective, not a peremptory term". To date it is not yet possible to provide a precise timing, it will first be necessary to evaluate the state of health of the group and try to make up for the weaknesses.
At present, priority will be given to the completion of the new industrial plan which has already passed the first phase prior to the establishment of the new board. "when we are ready and we have a stabilized and strong corporate perimeter, we will look at the listing as an opportunity" - continued the new CEO - underlining that neither the Dpcm nor the 2016 Def indicate a certain date or an income related to the privatization. And in any case, added Mazzoncini, the listing "is not the end of our mandate, but it is the means to make our company more robust". Previously, Mazzoncini had spoken of a "prejudice" with respect to the industrial plan represented by the definition of the regulatory framework by the government (with the law on local public transport), the EU and the Transport Authority.
Going into detail, the landing on the stock exchange will only take place after an improvement of the company in the LPT (local public transport) and goods sectors. For this reason it will be necessary to wait for the reform of local public transport, scheduled for mid-next year. The tpl represents an important match. If the group's market leadership is almost total in the iron sector (together with Trenord it reaches 90%) much can still be done in the metro and road sectors. The latter represents an extraordinary opportunity for growth and a sector in which 85% of the revenue comes from publicly owned companies. Furthermore, it is impossible not to take into consideration that LPT on road has a turnover of 9 billion euros "and we have a market share of 7%"
Great attention will be given to local public transport in Rome and Milan "We are interested in metropolitan services in Rome and Milan, areas where the metropolitan service makes a turnover equivalent to that of regional Trenitalia throughout Italy," observed Mazzoncini. “We will invest in metropolitan cities, we cannot fail to look at them with interest”.
Going back to the main topic, the new managing director of FS does not want to hear about privatisation, a term which, according to him, is not very appropriate for the situation: “we will put 40% of our capital on the stock market. The shareholder will be the citizen, just like now. A portion will be allocated to widespread ownership, which is very different from a privatization that it implies the entry into the shareholding structure of other industrial groups, which will not happen,” underlined the CEO.
There is no doubt either that Rfi should remain within the FS group. “The ownership of the network must remain public, this is undisputed, it is also written in the Dpcm. The infrastructure manager (RFI, ed.) must remain integrated into the company. There is no prospect of that part of the group going out and drifting away."
The new top management of Rfi and Trenitalia will be appointed "very soon", they are in fact important companies that cannot remain without a complete and effective board. Finally, the sale to Terna of Rfi's high and medium voltage electricity grid by the end of the year has been confirmed.
Finally, on the Mazzoncini network he defined the discussion on ownership as “ideological”: “The internet is a 26/27 billion asset that yields nothing: it can only be public. The manager, on the other hand, must remain integrated into the group. Rfi, which already does, can remain”.
