To send reassuring signals to the markets about reducing public debt, the government is working on a plan to list Ferrovie dello Stato. The hypothesis is for a stock market listing on the "Terna model", the company that owns the electricity grid, that is, for 40 percent of the group. In public finance documents, the government has promised 20 billion euros in proceeds over a three-year period. The Ferrovie operation is among the most complicated but at the same time at the top of preferences, and for at least two reasons. The first is that, of the large public companies that can be privatized, this is the last one of which the state still owns 100 percent. The second is the rail business attracts the attention of many investors. Exact figures at Palazzo Chigi are not yet being made, but a target of between four and five billion euros is likely. The hypothesis would be to allow pension funds to participate in new infrastructure investments on the network. This has been discussed in the rooms of Ferrovie for months now, but in recent weeks, thanks to market pressure, the dossier has returned to the table of top management.
|