The statement with which Astm, on July 29th, announced the exit from the Milano-Serravalle he was rather laconic: society “Signed an agreement with Fnm spa for the sale of the entire stake, equal to 13.6%, held directly and indirectly in the concessionaire Milano Serravalle – Milano Tangenziale. The sale – added the note – carried out simultaneously with the signing of the contract, it took place at the price of € 3.50 per share for a total consideration of approximately euro 86 million, of which € 7.3 million will be paid by January 31, 2021 ″.
However, it is to the half-yearly report as at 30 June of the Tortona financial company that operates in the motorways and infrastructures that we need to look at to better understand what prompted the Gavio group to sell its stake in the concessionaire of the A7 motorway, from Milan to Serravalle Scrivia, and to three Milanese ring roads, to date still controlled with the majority stake of 82.4% by the Lombardy Region, to hand over the baton to Fnm, a company listed on the stock exchange that operates mainly in the railway mobility sector through Ferrovienord and Trenord.
“The decision to leave MI-SE shareholding – reads Astm’s half-yearly report – is related to differences on the strategic plan of the concessionaire with particular reference to the project for the construction of new sections of its subsidiary Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda spa, concessionaire for the construction and management of the A36 motorway, by virtue of the uncertainty profiles that characterize this project “. The reference is to the capital increase of 350 million “called” by Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda last February for the construction of sections B2 and C of the infrastructure.
The problem is that, according to what has emerged in recent months, Milano-Serravalle, the first shareholder of Pedemontana with almost 79% of the capital (followed by Intesa Sanpaolo with over 20% of the shares), to participate in the operation itself launch a capital increase, thus going to raise cash among the shareholders. Not surprisingly, the Milan-Serravalle 2019 budget reports that “The Regional Council of 21 April 2020 approved the Regional Council Law containing ” Increase in the share capital of Milano Serravalle – Milano Tangenziale spa up to the maximum amount of 150 million to be carried out in the five-year period 2020-2024 to favor the capitalization of its subsidiary Autostrada Pedemontana Lombarda spa ‘”.
And it is probably this step that the minority shareholder Astm did not agree with, unwilling to open his wallet and make it open to the Milan-Serravalle company and more oriented, instead, to seek other ways to finance the sections of the Pedemontana under construction. “The total value of the transaction – reads again in the Astm half-yearly report – amounts to 85.7 million euros, with a gain of 19.6 million of euro compared to the book value of 66.1 million euro, given by a valuation of the shares of 3.5 euro per share. The consideration was collected for an amount of € 78.3 million, equal to € 3.2 per share, at closing, while the residual amount of € 7.3 million will be paid by January 31, 2021 ″.
Read also: Foothills: this time the tile for the most troubled motorway in Italy comes from the Corte dei Conti
And on closer inspection, at the end of July, it was identified an alternative way to finance the construction of the sections of the Pedemontana. Just the day before Astm announced the sale of the stake, in fact, Fnm, held with a 57.5% majority by the Lombardy Region, he did know that will also purchase 82.4% of the share capital of Milano-Serravalle in the hands of the body chaired by Attilio Fontana at the price of 519.2 million (3.5 per share as for Astm). An important figure for which Ferrovie Nord Milano is negotiating with the lending banks.
In response, the Lombardy Region will use part of the resources confiscated (the first press release of Fnm spoke of 350 million while the next one did not provide figures) to recapitalize the Pedemontana, becoming a controlling shareholder and thus avoiding the Milano-Serravalle company from continuing to “consolidate” it within the financial statements. Thus we understand that the operation involving Astm – which probably would have liked this method of recapitalizing the Pedemontana which does not touch the Milan-Serravalle budget – was part of a much broader and more complex project.
–
