Ntv could arrive on the Stock Exchange before Ferrovie dello Stato. The return of Flavio Cattaneo on the dashboard of the company that drives Italo on high-speed trains is in fact the prelude to a push towards the valorisation of the group. Enhancement that could take various forms: from the entry of a new shareholder after the 13,2% stake acquired by the private equity fund Peninsula Capital to the path of the IPO, with consequent listing. All in 2018. And if the latter appears to be the most probable scenario - according to what Il Sole 24 Ore reports - Ntv therefore seems willing to burn the privatization of Ferrovie dello Stato.
The team of Renato Mazzoncini, CEO of the public group, presented its conclusions to the government regarding the stock exchange listing of Fs. The government's choice seemed oriented towards the listing of the Freccia Rossa, but even this solution does not seem to have the wind in its sails: not only because there are conflicting views within the executive between the Minister of Transport Graziano Delrio and the head of the MEF Pier Carlo Padoan . The truth is that the wind of elections is already blowing and Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni will hardly be able to speed up the time before the vote scheduled for next spring. The ball will therefore pass to the next executive and we will see whether or not he will confirm the choice to privatize and how the Fs.
Returning instead to Ntv, the company was reorganized and relaunched and presented a respectable half-yearly. Flavio Cattaneo, who left his Telecom Italia experience with a severance pay of 25 million, decided to reinvest 15 million to bring his stake in Ntv from 3,1 to 5,1%, a confirmation of the intentions of the new management to push and accelerate company growth.
The scenario is favourable: the demand for transport is growing, the demand for high-speed trains and new destinations is growing. NTV has already launched a plan to expand its fleet. Twelve new Pendolini Evo will arrive by December and another eight are expected by July 2018. Cattaneo will thus be able to deploy 33 trains instead of 25, which is the prelude to a new, more aggressive and competitive season in terms of services and prices. Mazzoncini, for his part, brought the FS fleet from 59 to 109 trains in just a few years. In short, an acceleration is foreseeable and this is what would have pushed the FS leadership to play in advance with the replacement of Morgante in Trenitalia precisely in order not to be found in stand-buy when, under elections, a change at the top of the group's main battleship would have risked slowing down any decision. Especially now that Flavio Cattaneo is back on track and will need new capital to invest in the railway tender.
