Confindustria, goals and own goals in the match between Gozzi, Orsini, Brugnoli and Marenghi
Words and moves by Gozzi, Orsini, Brugnoli and Marenghi for the post-Bonomi period in Confindustria. Facts, articles and rumors
Great maneuvers (including media ones) for the election of the next president of Confindustria in place of Carlo Bonomi.
4-WAY RACE IN CONFINDUSTRIA FOR AFTER BONOMI
Among the three figures that have emerged in the newspapers in recent days – namely Antonio Gozzi, Emanuele Orsini and Alberto Marenghi – there are rumors of a fourth name: Giovanni Brugnoli , president of Tiba Tricot of Castellanza, a company active in the production of warp-knitted fabrics for sportswear, industrial fabrics and for furnishings.
A DINNER AT CORNETTO BOURLOT'S HOME
According to rumors collected by Start Magazine , last night in Rome in the house of Giuseppe Cornetto Bourlot , manager and entrepreneur close to Luigi Abete and son-in-law of Francesco Merloni, a dinner was held close to the general council of Confindustria scheduled today.
WHO WAS AT THE DINNER WITH BRUGNOLI
The dinner was attended by two past presidents of the confederation and Confindustria representatives from Piedmont, Veneto, Lombardy, Lazio, Liguria and Campania. Over 40 members of the General Council who will elect the next president of the Viale dell'Astronomia association were present.
As vice-president of Confindustria with responsibility for Human Capital, Brugnoli has followed in recent years both with the minister Patrizio Bianchi (Draghi government) and with the current head of Education, Giuseppe Valditara, the reform of the technical-professional institutes which aims at a greater school-business connection in the wake of experiences in particular in Germany but also in France.
WHAT WAS SAID AT DINNER
A theme that would have been touched by Brugnoli during the dinner at Cornetto Bourlot's house in which the current irrelevance of the confederation, which has little weight in the public debate, was highlighted.
Themes and problems mentioned – according to rumors – also in the speech of Brugnoli himself, who among other things indicated a course for Confindustria: direction Brussels to have a greater and better influence on the European institutions, without concentrating too much on Rome, and to address the upcoming challenges, such as the salary and contractual issue. To increase the weight and relevance of the confederation, a new role is needed for the research office: we are less relevant than the Artisans of Mestre in this, he would have hissed.
GOZZI'S MEDIA ROLE NOT ONLY ON THE FORMER ILVA
Until now, other figures had emerged in the race to succeed Bonomi. First of all, at least in the newspapers, that of Antonio Gozzi.
After days in which Gozzi gave torrents of interviews, effectively applying, as number one of the Luxembourg group Duferco, to take over the former Ilva, last Tuesday a large article appeared in the newspaper Il Foglio on Gozzi's words, works and missions.
THE SHEET ON GOZZI
Finally, the news: Gozzi is aiming for the presidency of Confindustria. But the news can be deduced from this final passage in which others invoke Gozzi, not him who is running, for goodness sake:
Who knows if in the next few days the pressure on Gozzi from some great Italian entrepreneurs will really translate into what many in the industrial world hope for: his candidacy for the leadership of Confindustria, to try to have, after many years, an association led by a business captain.
Not just a business captain, but also much more according to the author of the piece, Giuseppe De Filippi, deputy director of Tg5 and economics writer for Il Foglio :
We were saying about Gozzi that you can meet him on the streets of Chiavari, even now that his group has a turnover of billions, and he is keen to underline this lack of distance. Without reverse snobbery, but with great freedom from attempts at conditioning and the sirens of social status. It would seem that he doesn't care, that he is immune to the missteps of snobbery. A certain bravado covers it with references to a minor, popular story, made of effort and tenacity.
THE DUFERCO CASE
Not everyone in Confindustria paints Gozzi like this. There are also those who whisper about Gozzi's excessive sympathy for Matteo Renzi (and with the Meloni government, a president less aligned with an opposition representative would be preferable), about a trial still underway and about Duferco's property arriving partly also in China.
In Gozzi's bio on Wikipedia there is, in fact, talk of a process still underway.
But what is it about?
Lugano-based Duferco, one of the world's leading steel traders, is currently on trial in Brussels. The company and two of its top executives were accused years ago of bribing Congolese officials, including former Prime Minister Alphonse Muzito, through Serge Kubla, a former prominent Belgian politician.
GOZZI'S DEFENSE
“My anger is because in this affair we allowed ourselves to be fooled like little children”. This is how Antonio Gozzi, president of Federacciai and CEO of Duferco, defended himself, arrested three days ago in Brussels together with his collaborator Massimo Croci on charges of corruption and released a few hours later. Gozzi, who called a press conference to clarify his version, reiterated "total ignorance of the facts". “We have not bribed anyone, Duferco is completely unrelated and the matter does not concern the group or the group's investments”, claimed the entrepreneur.
THE REASSURANCES GUARANTEED IN THE SHEET ON GOZZI
Il Foglio now reassures: "Nothing has been done from the investigations concerning the Italians, who were dragged into the mix just to create confusion and then acquitted with a super full formula, but obviously there was a certain echo, even if now that episode should perhaps be reread thinking of another recent exploit of the Belgian magistrates, the one on Qatargate with which the European Parliament was overwhelmed without being able to provide itself with guarantee defenses. Once the Buriana crisis has passed, Gozzi continues its growth among the protagonists of the Italian productive economy".
THE POSITION OF DUFERCO
Duferco points out that "where the Court examined the facts on the merits, it acquitted Professor Gozzi and Doctor Croci with full force". And "as a consequence of these acquittal decisions, the Court then considered the public prosecutor's action to be extinguished due to the passage of time with respect to other charges, without examining the merits of the same".
THE TIES BETWEEN DUFERCO AND CHINA
Il Foglio belittles, indeed makes no mention at all, of the chinoiserie owned by Duferco, the group led by Gozzi. Yet il Foglio is the most anti-China paper newspaper in Italy, as demonstrated for example by the investigations and insights of Giulia Pompili.
In an article in Milano Finanza from 2014, we read : “51% Duferco to the Chinese Hebei. For the majority of the steel trading company they paid $400 million. The acquisition will allow the Asian giant to counterbalance the excess domestic production supply. The CEO of the Swiss-Italian group, Gozzi: the partners will remain and the management will not change".
Nine years ago, we read in a 2022 article, that "the Duferco group underwent a corporate transformation and was effectively divided into two Luxembourg holding companies, both parent companies of companies active in Ticino. Duferco International Trading Holding (Dith), controlled today by the Chinese Hebsteel, holds Duferco Sa. Duferco Participations Holding (Dph) controlled by Bolfo himself and directed by Antonio Gozzi holds a minority share in Dith itself and is active in various fields, from steelmaking to maritime transport. Since the facts covered by the investigation occurred before this division, the use of the name "Duferco" in the article refers to what is now the group headed by the old ownership".
THE SHEET ON ORSINI (BUT WITH LESS PASSION)
But the joy of Gozzi's entourage lasts 24 hours. The next day, Il Foglio goes on newsstands with this headline: “Emanuele Orsini, the supermanager who is looking to the top of Confindustria. CEO of two companies, he controls fifteen of them, after a path that goes from wood to construction to sausage factories".
Ohibò: so Gozzi's ambitions need to be scaled back?
The article, written by Marianna Rizzini, portrays Orsini as follows (with less emphatic passion than the one on Gozzi):
Go slowly, go far, observe the landscape in the meantime. Perhaps the secret to the success of Emanuele Orsini, born in Sassuolo in 1973 and once a recreational Harley rider (without the jacket and studs) lies in the reflective attitude of the Harley rider – who travels, but not at the stunning speeds at which they travel on Japanese motorbikes ), but today CEO of Sistem Costruzioni and Tino Prosciutti Spa, president of Maranello Residence and vice-president of the national Confindustria with responsibility for Credit, Finance and Taxation since 2020.
Sistem Costruzioni, underlines Il Foglio , controls 15 other companies, with diversification of objectives: for example, it was at the forefront in the reconstruction projects of various buildings in the post-earthquake period in Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna and Marche, but also in the construction of infrastructures and pavilions for Expo 2015, such as the Cardo and the Decumanus, for a total of 27 thousand square meters in three months. But it is since 2020, after the death of his father-in-law Lanfranco Fiandri, that Orsini also becomes president and CEO of Tino Prosciutti, a Parma-based company founded by Fiandri with four production plants, leader in Italy in the processing and production of cured raw ham and cured raw ham boneless (weekly production capacity: 35,000 hams".
WHAT AFFARITALIANI WRITE ABOUT GOZZI
Another 24 hours pass and Gozzi – who was pressured by the Confindustria world according to the Foglio version to suddenly run for post-Bonomi – suddenly abandons his doubts and hesitations: he already has the team ready. A stunt by communications consultant Gianluca Comin?
Here is what we read on Affaritaliani :
The Gozzi operation would be directed by past president Antonio D'Amato and the current number one of the Brescia division Giuseppe Pasini.
According to what Affaritaliani.it has learned, the vice-presidencies will be distributed as follows: two in the North, two in Lombardy, two in Emilia Romagna, one in Piedmont and three in the South. As regards the North, and in particular Veneto, the name chosen it is that of Leopoldo Destro, number one of Confindustria Veneto Est. The other name has yet to be identified, even if it is clear that it cannot be Barbara Beltrame Giacomello, vice president of Confindustria Vicenza and part of the steel dynasty of the same name. And the reason is very simple: since Gozzi comes from the steel industry and that Pasini, as we will see, will have an important role, it is unthinkable that there will be a third exponent of the steel industry. Further proof that the name of Enrico Carraro is continuing to lose ground not only for the presidency, but also for an important seat.
As regards the two names from Lombardy, the first will fall to Milan and will probably be the prerogative of Alessandro Spada, Assolombarda's number one who will see his mandate expire in the next few months. The other name, as mentioned, is that of Pasini. As regards Emilia Romagna, one seat should go to the president of Confindustria Emilia Valter Caiumi, while the other chair should go to the oilman Guido Ottolenghi. In this case the great exclusion would be Maurizio Marchesini, already vice-president of Confindustria and an entrepreneur esteemed in the circles of Viale dell'Astronomia.
As regards Piedmont, the fight, as we have already said on other occasions, is between Giorgio Marsiaj, a highly esteemed manufacturing entrepreneur in Turin, and Marco Gay, a young and ambitious man who is no longer aiming to become president in 2028. The South, on the other hand, will be the prerogative of Antonio D'Amato, who could allocate a chair to the current president of Confindustria Campania Costanzo Jannotti Pecci. The past president of Viale dell'Astronomia was stopped by his counterparts after the summer and will not be able to run again.
Antonio Gozzi, at the moment, can count on six safe votes, very few if you consider the following that an entrepreneur like him has. While Emanuele Orsini has already reached the quorum necessary to appear before the wise men, the president of Duferco will have to find synergies, perhaps even among the votes of Alberto Marenghi, who sees his share prices declining. Furthermore, the puzzle relating to central Italy remains. It seems that the star of Luigi Abete, for decades dominus of what insiders call the "Roman restricted traffic zone", is slightly dimmed. And Maurizio Stirpe himself, vice-president of Confindustria for two terms, does not seem to be part of Gozzi's plans. Even if we remember that there are two other seats to be assigned, namely those of vice president directly appointed by the president. And who knows, Stirpe might end up in the narrow circle of candidates.
GAME OVER? IT SEEMS LIKE NO
So it's a downhill match for Gozzi? Not so much, reading Lettera43 by Paolo Madron:
Gozzi's candidacy immediately split Confindustria Liguria because it would not even find the indispensable support of president Giovanni Mondini, for years a strong man of the Garrone group's Erg. Even in Federacciai Gozzi is not loved by the two prima donnas of the sector, Emma Marcegaglia, queen maker of all the presidents of Confindustria, and Barbara Beltrame. According to the exegetes of Viale dell'Astronomia, Gozzi's last-minute move, certainly seen unfavorably by the government especially for its relations with China a few days after the stop of Grillino's Silk Road project, is seen as an action of disturbance towards others candidates who have been running for months now, and aimed only at obtaining a vice presidency.
MARENGHI IS THE NAME OF BONOMI
Also worth taking into account is the name supported by the outgoing Bonomi: “ Alberto Marengh i, administrator of Cartiera Mantonava. Current deputy and very loyal to Bonomi, Marenghi can also count on political "help" in the family: he is married, in fact, to the Fratelli d'Italia deputy, Maddalena Morgante", wrote Dagospia recently.
The challenge (4-way) continues.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/confindustria-gozzi-orsini-brugnoli-marenghi/ on Thu, 14 Dec 2023 11:36:50 +0000.