The Returning State. And he gets his hands all over the place. The words of Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti following the announcement of the intention to enter Tim's capital, they opened up a, if not new, more defined perspective on the privatization of Italian companies, albeit with caution. And there's already a list of them: in the front row is the Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
After announcing plans to spend up to 2,2 billion on the network Tim, for a stake that can reach 20% of Netco, Giorgetti specified that in the future the State does not intend to play only the role of buyer. “As far as privatizations are concerned, there are certainly situations that could give rise to a reallocation of state shareholdings”, explains the minister. "Today we are discussing a State that enters into strategic participation, there may be other realities in which it is appropriate in some way to divest".
How much and how to enter Italian companies will be defined with caution: the sale, says Giorgetti, will concern only small minority shares. Paying attention, therefore, to preserving public control, especially in companies considered strategic.
Mps in pole position despite the ax of taxation on extra profits
But from Giorgetti's words the first thought flew to the dossier Ps, the bank in which the Treasury holds 64,2% and from which it must leave due to commitments made with the EU (informally it is said by the end of 2024, even if a precise deadline has never been communicated). Il Monte dei Paschi, under the direction of Luigi Lovaglio, managed to land a capital increase from 2,5 billion last November to 2 euros per share and this year the stock first rose to over 2,8 euros (when Axa exited by selling its shares with a capital gain) , then it returned below 2 euros and then, after the half-yearly results, it went back up to almost 2,8.
So much so that several investment banks had advised the Mef to take advantage of it to start placing at least a part of that 64% on the market.
But here is the hoe in the foot of the Treasury itself: on 7 August the Meloni government announced the tax on extra profits of the banks. Bank stocks on the Stock Exchange react with a drop of around 10% and Monte is no different. So that provision backfired on the government, having that large slice of MPs in its belly. Now the share is recovering and Giorgetti is probably thinking of following that advice of the investment bankers, placing on the market a quota, it is not known how large, of the shares in the portfolio. He will have to do it at a discount, but in any case the capital gain is guaranteed given that the book value is 2 euros.
The privatizable list includes ports, healthcare and transport
But it doesn't end there. On the list is the proposal to privatize i ports, launched in recent days by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, which angered Matteo Salvini.
The force workers are working on a bill that will concern tourist and commercial ports. First point: transforming the port authorities into joint stock companies. "In this way - explains the spokesman of the party Raffaele Nevi - we can attract private investments and capital". With a touch of amarcord because the work is inspired by the "Motorways of the sea", the infrastructure project launched by Silvio Berlusconi in 2001.
Then there are other entries: the local public transport,healthcare building and some services Public administration.
And then there's the affair Eng who is now betrothed to Lufthansa. The Treasury has signed an agreement to sell 41% of the company and gradually reduce the shareholding. Among the hypotheses circulating these days is the one that provides for the entry of the giant MSC in place of the MEF. A complex operation given that the privatization decree establishes very specific stakes but which can always be modified. At the end of the sale process, according to the scheme of the decree, the Treasury should in fact maintain a 10% share of Ita. In the past other hypotheses had emerged, such as those concerning the railways and in particular the prized piece of the high-speed train. But there are no indications that these projects have made a comeback. In any case, it should be remembered that the proceeds of privatizations flow into the public budget but, being one-off items, they cannot be used to cover spending measures such as those of the manoeuvre. Rather, they serve to reduce public debt.
