A specter is haunting the rooms of Italian capitalism and high finance groups: it is the Dutch multiple vote that the Senate Finance Committee is thinking of including Capitals under discussion at Palazzo Madama in the bill and which can change the balance of the large finance groups, from Generali a Mediobanca, Tim al Bpm bank. The reversals that have so far failed financially, also because they cost a lot, could take place through legislation with the approval of the new wind of politics inspired by the majority of center winner of the political elections of 25 September 2022.
Multiple voting: are we going back to Cuccia's times when shares were weighed and not counted?
What is the multiple vote for the historical shareholders of a company? In the multiplication by 2 or by 3 or by 10 of voting rights as occurs in Netherlands, which not by chance attracts many Italian groups, of which Brembo is only the latest. “The new capitalism – he pointedly observes in the Corriere della Sera Andrea Zoppini, Professor of Civil Law at the Roma Tre University and a lawyer widely listened to by large groups – he goes back to the old adage: actions are weighed and not counted”. As in the days of Mediobanca Henry Cuccia. The multiple vote is the object of the desire of the Capital bill, whose amendments can be presented until 20 July and which will be voted on between the end of August and the beginning of September to then give way to the Tax Decree, submit to the vote in the Palazzo Madama hall and finally go on to be examined by the Chamber.
The calendar already says one thing: that it will take months to introduce the admitted and denied multiple vote that overcomes all perplexities and finds the necessary parliamentary consensus, and that it will certainly not come into play at the highly anticipated Mediobanca shareholders' meeting in October, where if ever there were news at the top (there is talk of the hypothesis of the Presidency for the former minister and chairman in Italy of JP Morgan, Vittorio Grilli) will not be by law. Then it will be necessary to understand exactly what the multiple vote will consist of (2, 3 or 10 times the shares held?) and to whom will it apply (only to listed companies or also to those already listed?). "There is a lot of attention to multiple voting and there are diversified positions" explained in an interview with the weekly Milano Finanza, the Northern League President of the Finance Commission of Palazzo Madama, Massimo Garavaglia. Which he added: "There are many implications to the question and personally I am oriented towards a mechanism for which multiple voting is the practice but if someone does not want it, they can modify the statute" of the company.
Multiple voting: in the text of the Senate, the voting rights of historical members are multiplied by 10, upsetting the balance of Italian capitalism through politics
Garavaglia is convinced that multiple voting would make many groups go back that have chosen Holland as their registered office not so much for tax reasons but precisely for governance reasons, as a study by Fin-Gov ofCatholic University of Milan reported today by Il Sole 24 Ore and significantly entitled "So not all of them do".
"In the text of the Capitals bill - adds Garavaglia - there is already an elevation of 10 times the votes". Such a measure, if accepted, would overturn the balance of power of Italian capitalism and is enough to make the leaders of many groups tremble. But whether it becomes reality remains to be seen.
