Public appointments: from Cdp to Fs, 518 seats for Draghi

These are companies controlled directly (15) or indirectly (75) by the Ministry of the Economy – 74 Boards of Directors and 41 Boards of Auditors need to be renewed. Here is the map of the CoMar study centre

Not just vaccines, not just Recovery Plan. In the coming months, the State will also be engaged in another game: that of public appointments. The Draghi government's choices on this front could prove to be decisive for the effectiveness of the economic recovery action. The incoming replacement, in fact, is particularly large. In all, the budget assemblies will have to renew 115 corporate bodies, including 74 boards of directors and 41 boards of auditors in 90 companies controlled by the Ministry of Economy. The match is about everything 518 Guests, including 342 directors and 176 statutory auditors. The calculations are made by the CoMar study centre, which has published the fourth edition of the analysis on the governance of all the state's subsidiaries.

One of the decisive matches concerns the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, entrusted three years ago by the yellow-green government to the managing director Fabrizio Palermo, now expiring. The appointment is crucial because CDP is active on many fronts, from Autostrade to the single network (the Cassa is a shareholder of Tim with 9,8% and is a shareholder of Enel in the capital of Open Fiber). Cdp also holds the controlling interest in Post ed Eni (where Claudio Descalzi expects a reconfirmation) as shown in the organization chart below.

Source: 2021 Appointments Report – CoMar

Among the companies controlled directly by the Ministry of Economy, the batch of appointments also concerns Enel e Leonardo, as well as highly politically sensitive companies such as the Rai (the reconfirmation of CEO Fabrizio Salini is unlikely). Then there is the blocking of companies that provide state services such as public real estate Invitation, the information society Sogei (tax registry), the Energy Services Manager (gse), it's still Trenitalia, Italian railway network (RFI) and Awareness insurance, which has been suspended since June.

Another decisive choice will be the one relating to the guide of the Railways, today in the hands of the managing director Gianfranco Battisti. Fs is the largest Italian contracting station and controls Anas (currently managed by Massimo Simonini, also expiring), which is the second contracting station.

Then there is the summit of Saipem, chaired by the former postal administrator Francesco Caio, adviser to the Giallorossi government for Ilva and led by Stefano Cao.

Of the 90 companies, 15 are directly controlled. The list includes Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Eur, Ferrovie dello Stato, Gse – Energy Services Manager, Invimit, Rai and Sogei, but also Banca Mps or Leonardo for the Boards of Statutory Auditors. There are a total of 91 assignments to be assigned. The direct subsidiaries produce revenues of a total of 69,8 billion euros and have a total of 193.367 employees (without considering the 448,7 billion euros of assets and 36,1 of shareholders' equity of CDP alone) .

On the other hand, there are 75 companies with indirect control. Most are held through Enel, Eni, Ferrovie (with Anas), Invitalia and Poste Italiane. On this front, 427 appointments are expected.

Among the criteria that must be followed is that ofgender balance. Of the 518 outgoing members, 162 are women, equal to 31,3%. Women are more present in the direct subsidiaries of the MEF (30 women out of 91 directors, 33%) than in the indirect ones (132 out of 427, 30,9%) and in the Boards of Statutory Auditors (63 out of 176 total auditors, 35,8 %) compared to the boards (99 out of 342, 28,9%).

The public sector has 6.130 active enterprises, but CoMar has calculated that, considering the only 32 industrial and service companies (thus excluding banks and insurance companies), total turnover exceeds 241,4 billion euros and profits are over 26,8 billion euros, for a total of 471.284 employees. Of these 32 companies, 12 are listed on the Stock Exchange (Enav, Enel, Eni, Fincantieri, Leonardo, Italgas, PosteItaliane, Rai Way, Saipem, Snam, STMicroelectronics, Terna), for a capitalization that at the end of February 2021 was 167,3 billion euros, 26,3% of the total value. Two other companies have listed financial instruments (Ferrovie dello Stato and Rai).