MILAN – Global Infrastructure Partners and Brookfield Infrastructure pitched a possible takeover of Italian road and airport operator Atlantia last week after talks with its main shareholder the Banettons, the two funds said.
Shares in Atlantia, which has a market capitalization of over 16 billion euros ($17.5 billion), surged 10% on Thursday as the company finds itself caught in a potential bidding war also involving the Benetton family and Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid soccer club.
Here’s what you need to know on the company:
WHO ARE ATLANTIA’S MAIN SHAREHOLDERS?
Benetton’s holding Edizione owns 33% of Atlantia’s shares.
Its control is equally divided among four holding companies, each relating to one of the four Benetton siblings who founded the family’s economic empire.
New governance rules approved in January envisaged a lock-up period of five years and mechanisms, including pre-emption rights, to ensure that control of Edizione remains in the hands of the Benettons through the generational transition.
GIC Private Limited, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has a 8% stake in Atlantia, Italy’s market watchdog figures show.
Italian banking foundation CRT has a 4.5% stake in Atlantia, and is among the long-time investors in the group.
WHAT ARE ATLANTIA’S MAIN BUSINESSES?
Atlantia runs five airports and nearly 10,000 kilometers of motorway around the world, the group’s figures show https://www.atlantia.com/en/about-us/the-group.
The holding company owns a controlling stake in the Nice airfield and nearly 100% of Rome’s two airports.
Atlantia also owns 50% plus one share of the equity of Abertis, the first national operator of toll roads in countries such as Spain, Chile and Brazil. Perez’s ACS is a co-investor in Abertis.
Atlantia also owns 51% in digital toll payment company Telepass and 15% of Eurotunnel operator Getlink .
In June, Atlantia signed an agreement to sell its controlling stake in the Italian unit Autostrade per l’Italia (Italian motorways) to a consortium which includes state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and investment funds Blackstone and Macquarie.
The deal is worth more than 8 billion euros and Atlantia expects to pocket the cash by May.
LATEST FINANCIAL DATA
On March 11, Atlantia reported a 4 billion euro EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and proposed a dividend of 0.74 euros per share. In 2021 the overall motorway traffic was up 21%, the company said in the last annual report.
WHICH ARE ATLANTIA’S MAIN 2024 TARGETS?
In the last financial report, the company saw core profit reaching 5.1 billion euros ($5.6 billion) by 2024, matching the figure it plans to invest over the same period. The conglomerate also expected revenues to rise to 7.7 billion euros by 2024. ($1 = 0.9191 euros)
(Reporting by Francesco Zecchini; Editing by Keith Weir)
