In the construction site of Italian privatizations, which has been closed for too long because it has been exposed to cloying and inconclusive ideological disputes for too long, there is finally a fresh wind that bodes well. First of all, the facts speak for themselves: bypassing the opposition of Fiom, which in the past had prevented the simple listing of the public shipbuilding group on the Stock Exchange, preventing it from launching more substantial investment programs to face international competition, the Renzi government brings to the Stock Exchange the drumming Fincantieri, which within a few weeks will place on the market a considerable share equal to 49,9% of the capital.
But it is above all the methods of the IPO of the company, skilfully led by the managing director Giuseppe Bono, which deserve appreciation and which clarify once and for all the purposes of the operation: the partial privatization and listing of Fincantieri will take place not through a OPV but through a capital increase, which will thus allow the company to raise resources that will largely remain internally and which will serve to finance the investments it absolutely needs to continue playing a major role in the elite of world shipbuilding .
But no less interesting are the big news coming from the Post Office and the State Railways. There had been talks of their privatization for years and also of the need to intertwine it with forms of liberalization capable of further opening up the respective reference markets to competition, but before the arrival of the Renzi government, very few facts had been seen. except for the birth of the Transport Authority, unfortunately still in the running-in phase. It is true that both the Post Office and the Fs are no longer the public carriages they once were and that today, even with the help of the State, they have their accounts in order, but it would be hard not to see their semi-monopolistic predominance in their respective markets.
Now, however, the music is changing and the arrival of two figures of absolute excellence and international culture such as engineer Francesco Caio on the post of CEO of Poste Italiane and Luiss economist Marcello Messori as president of the State Railways promises sparks . Both are studying and revisiting their respective companies, but the mission that the Renzi-Padoan tandem has entrusted and explained to them is very intriguing, because it is not just a matter of privatizing the two groups – and this in itself would be a memorable step forward – but to do so without prejudicial conditioning and trying to combine the objective of maximizing the value of the company with the opening up of the reference market. Which means two things: clarifying the scope and object of privatization and linking it with more advanced forms of market liberalisation.
In other words: will the Post Office and the Fs have to be privatized as a whole, while leaving control in the hands of the Treasury, or can they be privatized piecemeal, as has been done in other countries? To be even clearer: will a share of the entire Italian post office go on the market or instead, as they did in Germany, will only Bancoposta be privatized? And again: how will Bancoposta move now that the Bank of Italy has brought down the curtain on its previous privileges by imposing the same rules of the game as all Italian banks?
Francesco Caio is exploring all the hypotheses on the table and evaluating the pros and cons of all the options, trying to intertwine privatization and liberalization but without forgetting two other fundamental aspects: the redefinition of the identity of the group, which cannot only deal with finance but which must also be able to carry out the traditional postal service more efficiently, and the opportunity to forge international alliances under the banner of innovation.
Equally intriguing is the task that awaits Marcello Messori at the top of the Fs. It is not usual that the shareholder Tesoro wanted to explicitly underline that the management of the machine will be in the hands of the new CEO Michele Mario Elia but that the new president of the Railways, unlike his predecessors, will have two decisive powers such as that of "giving impetus to privatization" and to "define the strategies", in conjunction with the CEO, to "face (the new challenges) in a context characterized by the growing competitiveness determined by the liberalization processes".
It's easy to say privatization, but, as for the Post Office, also for the Fs what is the perimeter and what is the object to bring to the market? All the Fs or only the High Speed? And, furthermore, in what competitive context will privatization take place and how will it intertwine with liberalization and regulation? It is not a question of sweetening the healthy competition between Freccia Rossa and Italo, but of regulating it in a correct and non-punitive way for any of the contenders.
And it is here that the problem of the railway network and the location of Rfi becomes topical again. The corporate separation between Trenitalia and Rfi is enough or, as the Antitrust has been claiming for some time on the model of what has already happened for electricity and gas, it is time to also think about an ownership unbundling and a spin-off of the railway network to guarantee the maximum impartiality of access to the network both towards Fs and Ntv?
These are fascinating challenges that can help modernize and make more competitive essential public utility services such as postal services and railways, opening up their respective markets more than is the case today. And it is evident that, in the face of reform operations of this magnitude, Europe will not be able to continue to close its eyes and will have to convince itself that with the Renzi government, which emerged strengthened in the recent elections, the Italian revolution is not a mere chimera but is becoming reality.
It has never happened that a government had such an innovative approach to crucial sectors such as the post office and the FS as that of the current government, but the litmus test is different and lies in the fact that the challenges for the post office and the FS are in the hands of two managers of the caliber of Caio and Messori who perfectly know the rules of the game and are determined to leave their mark. In favor of the country and its modernization.
