Italo buys Itabus, Montezemolo and Cattaneo sell to the Americans – Corriere.it

Itabus gets on board the Italo trains. The board of directors of the railway operator today, Friday 5 May, in fact approved the acquisition, and the consequent industrial integration, of the road transport company born in May 2021 on the impetus of Flavio Cattaneo, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Isabella Seragnoli, Gianni Punzo and Angelo Donati, also protagonists of the adventure of the red trains of Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori. To be precise, Cattaneo is the reference shareholder of Itabus with 30% of the shares held through Partind Cinque srl, in addition to having been CEO of Ntv from 2015 to 2016; Montezemolo of 17.5% with GI Gloninvest; Punzo by another 17.5% with Glp srl; Donati another 17.5% with Dbus srl and Seragnoli the last 17.5% with Mais spa. With the exception of Donati, the other four are also minority shareholders of Italo-Ntv: they have 7.7% together with Alberto Bombasse i and the Peninsula fund. The US fund Gip (Global Infrastructure Partners) III global investment instead holds 72.6%. In the background remain the negotiations for a possible sale of the railway operator by 2024. Among the candidates, according to rumors, the MSC group of Gianluigi Aponte.

Integration

Until today there was a partnership between the high-speed services of Ntv and Itabus, which connects over 150 Italian cities with 800 routes a day. With 100 Man buses (Volkswagen group) and, after only two years of activity, despite the restrictions of the pandemic period, the company has already exceeded 2 million travelers and closed 2021 with revenues of 30 million. Once the integration with Italo has been completed, connections between railway stations and airports and ports will be created, the urban micro-mobility and integrated mobility network will develop, offering passengers a vast choice, purchasable from a single multimodal platform and with the facilitation of a single ticket.

Operational since the summer

The service will be operational from the summer, the first connections will concern Campania, Sicily and Puglia and then expand throughout Italy. A 24-hour service, to which will be added the efficient and effective chartering offer, to meet the needs of schools, sports clubs, tourist groups and all kinds of public and private communities. Thanks to this operation, travelers will have a real integrated mobility service at their disposal, a project in which Italo believes and has been studying for years to facilitate travel around the area, commented Gianbattista La Rocca, Italo’s managing director. With a fleet of 51 trains and 100 buses for now, but which may grow in the coming years, we will connect all of Italy, serving large cities, tourist villages and infrastructure hubs such as ports and airports 24 hours a day. Lastly, the Ntv board of directors acknowledged that Flavio Cattaneo (designated CEO of Enel) leaves all the responsibilities to the president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, remaining a shareholder of the company and non-executive vice president. Itabus, on the other hand, will continue to be led by the two managing directors Francesco Fiore and Enrico Zampone, while the president will become Gianbattista La Rocca, taking the place of Elisabetta Colacchia. The assembly for the approval of the accounts of Itatlo-Ntv will instead be convened on February 8th.