All the political and banking quarrels about Ferrarini
What happens on the Ferrarini dossier. The latest news in the article by Emanuela Rossi
The fate of Ferrarini, an Emilian group led by the former vice president of Confindustria for Europe, Lisa Ferrarini, has continued to arouse the interest of politics, having ended up in an arrangement with creditors and disputed by two consortiums. To arouse curiosity and controversy, above all the role of Amco, the former Sga owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance which has sided with Pini Holding.
THE FERRARINI EVENT
The dispute is therefore between the Pini group and the consortium led by Bonterre, and supported by Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit, to take over Ferrarini, the cured meat company in agreement after the collapse of the accounts between 2016 and 2017 which arrived in July 2018 to a negative shareholders' equity of 123 million. The group boasts a maxi debt of approximately 360 million , born due to wrong investments and loans received from Veneto Banca for the purchase of shares of the bank which then ended up in compulsory administrative liquidation. On 23 July 2018, Ferrarini filed a preliminary arrangement with the Court of Reggio Emilia and was admitted to the procedure on 12 March 2019.
On the one hand, therefore, there is the group of companies owned by Pini Holding, led by Roberto Pini, which is Italian-Hungarian and has its base in Cyprus; on the other hand, Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit, which in August filed with the court of Reggio Emilia a new proposal for an arrangement to save and relaunch Ferrarini's activities together with the industrial partners of the Bonterre-Grandi Salumifici Italiani group, OPAS and HP.
THE ROLE OF AMCO
In all this, as we said, the role of Amco, the former 100 per 100 Sga owned by Via XX Settembre, which has sided with Pini Holding, is increasingly discussed. As indicated by Ferrarini, Amco will make new finance available and enter the capital of the investment vehicle, called Rilancio Industrie Agroalimentari Srl, with a share of 20%, replacing with shares the credits claimed by the former Sga towards the Luxembourg companies which are shareholders of Ferrarini SpA with respect to which the Pini group has become co-obliged. In its capacity, Amco will be able to designate members of corporate bodies and heads of control functions, acting as a strategic partner in the turnaround.
It should be remembered that on February 3, the CEO of Amco, Marina Natale, was heard in the bicameral commission of inquiry on the banking and financial system. Natale motivated the choice to support the arrangement proposal presented by the Pini group by stating that a comparison had been made with that presented by Bonterre and others.
In parliamentary circles, however, it is noted that the Amco resolution in favor of Pini is dated 25 May while the Bonterre and others proposal is subsequent, having been presented only on 10 August. In the same hearing, the CEO also stated that "the Pini proposal involves a creditors 'satisfaction of 30% entirely in cash while the competing proposal provides for a creditors' satisfaction of 10.41% of which only one third in cash". Political exponents, however, point out that the Pini proposal does not contemplate the payment "in cash" of course at the time of execution of the arrangement with creditors, but payment is envisaged in cash only if and when the industrial plan underlying the Pini proposal, articulated over a duration seven years, he will be successful.
For these reasons, in parliamentary circles it is considered appropriate that Natale respond further to the commission and that Amco first transmit all the acts and documents at its disposal concerning the Ferrarini affair. It is even hypothesized – if it were confirmed that we are faced with inaccurate statements – to send a report to the Judicial Authority on what was stated in the session of 3 February.
THE REQUEST OF ANZALDI (IV)
The interest of politics continues on the matter. In recent days, the appeal to the government, to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Economy and Finance by the deputy of Italia Viva, Michele Anzaldi. "I expect that now the Draghi Government, the Prime Minister and Minister Franco will take over the issue and protect Italianness and jobs," the parliamentarian who disputes the choice of Amco said in an interview with the Riformista . Anzaldi also aims to involve the judicial authority regarding the reconstruction offered by Natale and urges the president of the bicameral commission of inquiry on the banking and financial system, Carla Ruocco (M5S) in this direction. "I am still waiting for someone to explain to the Italians why a state-owned company like Amco chooses to side with a private individual, whose main economic activities are carried out abroad – said Anzaldi -, instead of taking the side of a system consortium , supported by all the trade associations, which sees an Italian excellence as the leader, such as the Bonterre Group, with the support of the two main Italian banks Intesa and Unicredit ”.
GALLINELLA'S QUESTION (M5S)
Only a few days ago is the question with written answer presented by the president of the Agriculture commission, Filippo Gallinella (M5S) to the Minister of Economy and Finance and that of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. Gallinella reminds that "from June 2019 to December 2019, Intesa Sanpaolo and the fully publicly owned company Amco SpA (100 percent capital held by the MEF) requested, as creditors with a share of liabilities exceeding 10 percent, to access documents of the procedure and of the company, in order to file a competing proposal pursuant to article 163.4 of the bankruptcy law ".
The pentastellato deputy then retraces the last stages of the affair, relating to the last year: "The Court of Reggio Emilia on 6 and 8 May 2020 initially accepted, with a first decree, Ferrarini's renunciation of the composition proposal, declaring the 'non-prosecution of Ferrarini's arrangement with creditors, and subsequently accepted, with a second decree, the request for a new blank arrangement pursuant to article 161.6 of Ferrarini's bankruptcy law, granting a deadline for a new proposal ". These are decrees that have been challenged by Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit before the Court of Appeal of Bologna which has highlighted "their illegitimacy".
Subsequently, on 10 August, the two credit institutions as proponents and BONTERRE-Grandi Salumifici Italiani of Modena, OPAS of Carpi of Modena and CAI-Happy Pig as industrial partners presented a competing proposal to the Court of Reggio Emilia while on 31 August Ferrarini SpA resubmitted its own proposal to the Court of Reggio Emilia in place of the one withdrawn "which will see the company pass under the control of the Pini Group and of Amco SpA itself, which in the meantime has not only become a subsidiary with 20 per cent of Gruppo Pini in the initiative, but will finance the subsidiary of Gruppo Pini, in the event of the acquisition of Ferrarini in the composition with creditors, with 12 million euros ".
Finally, Gallinella cites press sources according to which "the Court of Appeal of Bologna, ruling on the appeal presented by Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit, effectively canceled the entire procedure, with the disappearance of the effects of all the acts and proposals since filed here, including the proposal of the Pini Group and the public company Amco which, according to the press, must be resubmitted at the Bankruptcy Court of Bologna "and other rumors that" raise doubts on the proposed transfer of Ferrarini under the control of the Pini Group ".
Given this fact, in a rather intricate affair, the parliamentarian asks the two ministers if they are aware of the facts in which a fully publicly owned company, namely Amco, is also involved, and if they do not intend to "verify, to the extent of their competence, the story as a whole, in order in particular to avoid repercussions for the Italian food industry sector ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/tutte-le-baruffe-politiche-e-bancarie-su-ferrarini/ on Mon, 12 Apr 2021 04:42:09 +0000.