Italian Autostrade: Abertis tries again

Milan - After saying farewell to Benetton in 2008 and having the projected merger with Autostrade per l’Italia scrapped, in which opposition by the government of the day played a role, Spanish industry conglomerate Abertis tries again. The group has just won exclusive rights to take over from Intesa Sanpaolo, a majority stake in A4 Holding, the company that controls the Veronese part of the A4 Highway (Brescia-Padova) and the A31 (Vicenza-Piovene-Rocchette).

With their bid of about €600 million, an amount just over their €661 million consolidated revenue in 2014, for the A4 Holding company which closed with a net profit of €31.92 million, the Spanish group has beaten the other bidders, comprised of the fund F2i, Carlo Toto and Benetton. The aim of the Spaniards, who, during their half-year account review, announced investments of up to €9 billion in global acquisitions, is to conclude the due diligence process by the end of this year and take over the entire stake held by Intesa Sanpaolo, Astaldi and Famiglia Tabacchi.

Currently, 44,85% of A4 Holding is in the hands of Re.Consult Infrastructure (66% Intesa, 31.5% of Mr. Astaldi and about 2% of Famiglia Tabacchi). The Ca ‘de Sass, through its subsidiary Equiter, owns 6.54% of A4 Holding, while local public authorities, primarily the provinces of Vicenza (7.43%), Brescia (4.5%) and Verona (4. 23%), together control 32,23% of shares in the holding company, which is chaired by the former president of the province of Vicenza, Mr. Attilio Schneck. The provinces of Milan, Bergamo, Padua and Venice and their respective Chambers of Commerce, also hold some shares in the holding company, although with smaller percentages.