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.
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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)