Atlantia, a major shareholder of Abertis in conjunction with ACS, runs “the risk of going bankrupt,” according to its ceo, Roberto Tomasi, if the Italian Government meets its promise and suspended the concessions that the company has Autostrade per l’italia, a subsidiary of Atlantia, controlled by the family Benetton. In an interview published Saturday by the daily Corriere della Sera, Tomasi makes sure that his group would be at the edge of the precipice with a decision of such a draft because they have “lines of credit outstanding with a value of 10.500 million euros”. The Movement 5 Stars (M5S), a partner in the Executive coalition of the Democratic Party (PD), accuses Autostrade be responsible for the collapse of a bridge in Genoa in August of 2018, an event that caused 43 dead, and since then has ordered to suspend the authorizations for the group dealer who controls more than half of the motorways of Italy, some 3,000 kilometers of road. In Spain Atlantia is also the partner of reference (29.9 per cent) of Cellnex, the signing of the telecommunications infrastructure.
The manager of the infrastructure group to seek a “compromise alternative”, but the Government of Rome has approved, measures that reduce the compensation they would receive Atlantia for an early termination of the contract if it is demonstrated that the grantee fails to comply with its obligations. “With the reversal, and a reduced payment [of compensation] is to run the risk of breaking,” says Tomasi. Late on Friday, the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the rating of Atlantia for the second time in a month, pushing its debt below the investment grade. Tomasi calls for an agreement that match the public interest and the rights of your company. “Such agreement is possible and should be reached in the interest of the 7,000 workers (of Atlantia), stakeholders and the italians in general.”
The manager wanted to talk about a supposed proposal that Atlantia would have made to the Ministry of Transportation to pay about 2,000 million euros to rebuild the bridge of Genoa, to compensate the city and to finance new investment, and not about if you have refused to reduce the tolls in the coming years. “All I can say is that we are ready to continue discussions with the Government to avoid destroying a part of the industry of the country,” he said. This same week the company and the ministry gathered urgency following the collapse of part of the roof of a tunnel managed by Autostrade.
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The Italian Government prepares for the cancellation of the concessions of Atlantia ACS and Atlantia completed the purchase of Abertis after you create a new signature
Tomasi yes he mentioned that Atlantia is ready to discuss a tollway system that links the rates to the investments done and not just planned. The Government has bloquedado the rate increases until the operators to adopt new plans that conform to the new system. Atlantia will present this month of January, a strategic plan with “a new approach in research and development, management models and digitisation”.
