Is the government preparing golden power over Sirti to protect supplies to NATO?
Palazzo Chigi could exercise golden power over Sirti to prevent the telecommunications company (which also works for NATO) from ending up in the hands of a foreign investment fund. All the details
The government is considering exercising golden power over Sirti, a company based in the Milan area that deals with telecommunications networks and digital services, to block a possible sale to a foreign investment fund.
MF-Milano Finanza writes this, citing "sources close to the dossier" and explaining that Palazzo Chigi would prefer the company to be sold to an industrial entity rather than a financial investor. The use of special powers would serve to ensure that Sirti's assets and know-how – considered strategic due to the sector in which it operates – are protected, together with its employment levels.
WHO CONTROLS SIRTI AND WHO WILL CONTROL IT IN THE FUTURE (MAYBE)
Sirti is the exclusive property of PS Reti SpA, whose share capital – as stated in the antitrust authority's bulletin of 5 June 2023 – is in turn held entirely by K Equity Italy 2, which ultimately refers to the US fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) .
Milano Finanza writes that the sale process of Sirti – PS Reti's consultants are Goldman Sachs and IMI of Intesa Sanpaolo – is still in the preliminary phase of expressions of interest, and therefore far from the assumption of commitments by potential buyers. According to the newspaper's sources, these potential buyers are all investment funds for the moment: Searchlight Capital, American; Mubadala Investment Company, Emirati; 3i Infrastructure, British.
THE ECONOMIC RESULTS
In the first half of 2023 Sirti, led by CEO Laura Cioli, recorded revenues of 410 million euros (18 percent more on an annual basis) and a gross operating margin of 27.1 million (+34 percent) .
Recently Sirti Digital Solutions, the subsidiary specialized in digital services, obtained the order for the development of a new infrastructure for the NATO data center in Naples. In the last period of 2023, however, the group announced that in the last half-yearly reports the cost of financial charges for the use of telecommunications networks has tripled on an annual basis. The delays between the start of projects and the receipt of payments have created a cash imbalance of 3.8 billion euros, says the ANIE SIT association which represents the telecommunications infrastructure sector.
ALL THE GOLDEN POWER OF MELONS
Giorgia Meloni's government has already used golden power on several occasions.
Last November he used it to oppose the sale of the former Microtecnica , a precision mechanics company based in Italy but entirely controlled by the US company Collins Aerospace, to the French company Safran. In June 2023 he intervened in Pirelli to limit the role of Sinochem's Chinese shareholders and protect the company's technologies (i.e. the sensors in the tires for data collection).
At the beginning of December there was talk of golden power to block the possible sale of Rosetti Marino , a Ravenna-based company specializing in shipbuilding and offshore platforms, to a foreign industrial group (the Indian Larsen & Toubro, the Malaysian Bumi Armada or the South Korean Daewoo E&C, perhaps). More recently, the possibility of intervention on the operation between the Ion group and the real estate services company Prelios has created tensions in the majority between Lega and Fratelli d'Italia.
– Read also: All the latest cases of golden power. Assonime Report
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/il-governo-prepara-il-golden-power-su-sirti-per-tutelare-le-forniture-alla-nato/ on Wed, 28 Feb 2024 14:14:41 +0000.