ROSNEFT ALLIES WITH TRONCHETTI TO LEAD PIRELLI. PAID 500 MILLION. HOURGLASS GOES OUT, BANKS GO DOWN
Coup de scene at Bicocca. Precisely on the day in which the foreign ministers of the European Union are meeting to deliberate possible sanctions against Russia after the referendum in Crimea, the shareholders of Lauro 61/Camfin, the holding company that controls 26,71% of Pirelli tighten an axis iron with Rosneft, the energy giant of Moscow already present in Saras.
In summary, Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Clessidra and Nuove Partecipazioni (Tronchetti Provera family) have reached an agreement in principle with Rosneft for the realization of a multi-stage operation. First of all, Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and Clessidra will leave Lauro61/Camfin. The two banks will reinvest part of the proceeds in a new partnership, also through the establishment of a special vehicle in which the equal shares will be distributed as follows: on the one hand, the "Italian" 50% parked in a newco made up of 80% New Participations and with shares of 10% each for Intesa and Unicredit; the remaining 50% will be controlled by Rosneft, headed by Igor Sechin, one of the key men in the Russian economy, who has always been a close collaborator of Vladimir Putin.
After the announcement of the agreement, which values the Pirelli shares at 12 euros (for a total investment of around 500 million), the Bicocca stock shows a drop of around 2%. It is the confirmation that financial operators believe that the deal have a strategic value and, consequently, bring down the speculative appeal of the stock, an object of many in the recent past rumors. Many had bet on the contestability of the Italian group.
In this regard, there was talk of a possible agreement between some private equity and Goldman Sachs itself (director of the leveraged buyout of Prysmian at the time). Rumors denied by the Milanese group because they have no foundation. But the conjectures about future arrangements had not ceased for this. After all, Marco Tronchetti Provera himself confirmed in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in January his willingness to leave the leadership of the group in 2017. For the occasion, the president had rejected the idea of a future as a family business for the multinational of tyres, explaining that large companies are too complex nowadays for families to manage them", and adding that "Italy is too complicated and expensive a country for businesses".
Hence the search for one or more international partners. In the end, the Moscow track prevailed, probably for various reasons: the industrial and long-term nature of the commitment of Rosneft, one of the main financial lungs of the Russian economy, in the Italian economy, already demonstrated by the investment in Saras, intended to upcoming significant developments not excluding the purchase of the majority; the parallel commitment of Pirelli in Russia, one of the most important investments on the Bicocca agenda.
Lastly, the umpteenth confirmation of the parallel path of the Moratti family, owner of Saras and Marco Tronchetti Provera, catches the eye. It is not excluded that the axis with Igor Sechin is the latest deal matured in the Nerazzurri's San Siro grandstand, which is now manned by Eric Thohir's managers.
