A takeover bid from Spain puts the Benetton family under pressure.
(Photo: Reuters)
Rome Atlantia is by far the most important investment for the Benettons: while the Benetton Group, the Italian textile company with the colorful sweaters, was in the red in 2020 due to corona, the infrastructure holding company Atlantia made a profit of almost three billion euros.
The holding company owns motorway concessions and airports in several countries, operates more than 9,000 kilometers of toll roads and recently took over the Siemens subsidiary Yunex Traffic for almost one billion euros – a big player in the market for intelligent transport systems.
But now the Benettons are worried about their most valuable asset, in which they hold 33.1 percent through their family holding Edizione: a takeover bid for Atlantia comes from Spain. The construction group ACS confirmed its interest in buying on Wednesday evening. ACS major shareholder Florentino Perez wants to take over Atlantia together with the investment funds Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Brookfeld Asset Management. He should play through a purchase either in coordination with the Benettons – or a hostile takeover, as Bloomberg first reported. He also plans to split up the holding company afterwards – and to form the motorway concessions into one company.
>>> Also read: Digital traffic technology and more money for Volocopter: Benetton Holding has ambitious growth targets
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But the Benettons don’t want to give up Atlantia so easily. Edizione has apparently been in talks with the Blackstone investment fund for some time, as can be heard from those close to the family. A possible scenario: Blackstone takes over so many shares that they will hold the majority together with Edizione in the future. This could lead to a bidding war between the parties.
The takeover rumors already caused the share to rise by 14 percent at times on Thursday. At EUR 20.50, the price was almost as high as it was before the pandemic. Almost half of Atlantia’s shares have so far been traded on the stock exchange, and the Singapore fund GIC (around eight percent), HSBC (five percent) and the Turin Savings Bank Foundation (4.5 percent) also hold the remaining shares.
Perez and Atlantia are already connected today
Perez, who is president of the Real Madrid soccer club as a part-time job, is already linked to Atlantia in a roundabout way: He owns around 13 percent of ACS, which in turn holds a good half of the shares in the German construction group Hochtief. Atlantia, in turn, holds almost 16 percent of Hochtief shares. Perez is also involved in one of Atlantia’s most important assets: Atlantia holds a majority of 50 percent plus one share in the Spanish infrastructure company Aberis, which operates motorways and toll systems, but 30 percent belongs to ACS.
Atlantia did not comment on the events on Handelsblatt demand. Edizione, in turn, said in a statement on Thursday that they had been approached by investors about the takeover bid “unsolicited”. One does not share the strategic project, which also includes a “splitting of the Atlantia Group”. Edizione is committed to “protecting the integrity of the group”.
Atlantia recently looked around for new business areas. One of the largest holdings, the operator of the Italian motorway (ASPI), will soon go back into the hands of the state. That was a consequence of the collapse of the “Ponte Morandi” bridge near Genoa in 2018. ASPI managers at the time are said to have known about the danger of collapse for years, the process begins in July. At the beginning of May, the buyback brought around eight billion euros into Atlantia’s coffers.
The new Atlantia CEO Carlo Bertazzo, employed by the Benettons in 2020, is to drive forward the restructuring of the holding company. He put Atlantia on a broader footing and will increasingly focus on new business areas such as e-mobility, mobility hubs or air taxis. Atlantia recently increased its stake in the German start-up Volocopter. Atlantia has invested a total of 50 million euros there. At the beginning of 2024, the first electric drone for passengers will take off at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, also an Atlantia subsidiary. The first tests are scheduled to begin later this year.
More: Blackstone buys portfolio of cold logistics properties from the Nagel Group.