MSC also wants Italo trains, all the moves of the Aponte-Corriere.it family

Mediterranean Shipping Company, the global maritime and logistics giant of the Aponte family, is trying to accelerate the acquisition of Italo, the first private Italian operator on the high-speed railway network. After weeks of stalemate, in recent days the rumors have intensified on the negotiations between MSC and the Anglo-American fund Global Infrastructure Partners which, through Gip III Global Investment, holds 72.6% of Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, as the company that manages Italo is called . A turning point that would come more than a year after the dossier arrived on the table of the owner Gianluigi Aponte and several months after the Courier was the first to give the news of the interest of Msc.

Quotes

From what has been learned, the Aponte family would intend to have at least 51% in the new share configuration, possibly leaving the other 49% to other funds interested in participating in the operation. This would mean that upon signing the agreement, the reinvesting shareholders (such as Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Flavio Cattaneo, Giovanni Punzo, Isabella Seragnoli, Alberto Bombassei and Peninsula Capital) who hold 7.7% should leave the company. The value of Italo’s business is still being discussed, which would be around 5.2 billion euros between 4 billion in capitalization and around 1.2 billion in net debt.

The company perimeter

For the exclusive negotiation between Msc and Gip — reported first by Bloomberg — the protagonists would have given themselves 60 (working) days. The negotiations, explains those familiar with the dossier, at a certain point would have stalled due to a disagreement between MSC and some Ntv shareholders on the perimeter of Italo: a perimeter that expanded in May 2023 with the entry into the company of Itabus, the private company of long-distance road passenger transport. By taking over the Italo trains, MSC would also have the coaches.

The investment

Sources close to the dossier explain al Courier that if there were to be an agreement – which certainly isn’t at the moment – for MSC it would be a financial investment given that logistic synergies are not possible today because Italo does not do cargo. MSC does not comment. No comment also from Italo. The American fund bought the railway company in February 2018 from Italian shareholders – including Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and Flavio Cattaneo – for 1.98 billion euros.

The shopping campaign

In short, the MSC shopping campaign continues in 2023. Helped, it must be said, also by a two-year period 2021-2022 of record earnings for the logistics and maritime transport sector. Even if the colossus does not publish financial statements – because it is a private company under Swiss law – according to the assessments of insiders made for the Courier in 2022 MSC could have closed with net profits of 28-30 billion euros. This also explains why last year it acquired through its subsidiary Sas Shipping Agencies Services for 5.7 billion Bollor Africa Logistics, the company of the Bollor Group’s transport and logistics activities on the continent.

Air cargo

Not only. Because after failing to close the dossier positively Ita Airways, the Italian airline that took over from Alitalia, MSC took over the British hospital chain operator Mediclinic International with the South African holding company Remgro Ltd – dividing the shares in half – in an operation valued at 4.3 billion euros. The family then continues to invest in ports, also in Italy, while through the MSC Air Cargo air cargo division – as revealed by the Courier — is preparing to acquire AlisCargo, the airline dedicated to cargo transport founded in Italy.