Factbox: Companies potentially affected by Italy's election

Rai Way SpA

20/09/2022 13:27

Sept 20 (Reuters) - Italy votes in a national election on
Sept. 25 and polls have  shown a right-wing bloc led by the
Brothers of Italy party is on course for a clear victory.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N30G2BJ
    Here is a list of companies that could be affected by the
outcome of the election.
    
    BANKS
    -----
    The fall of Prime Minister Mario Draghi's government has
weighed on Italian banking shares.
    Exposed to higher Italian debt yields due to their large
holdings of sovereign bonds as well as through their cost of
funding, banks are also vulnerable to a worsening of the
economic outlook.
    The change of government and calls by Brothers of Italy's
leader Giorgia Meloni to revise Italy's national recovery plan
could threaten Italy's ability to meet the commitments to which
European Union post-pandemic funds are tied.
    
    INTESA SANPAOLO  ISP.MI 
    Italy's top bank is the second biggest holder of Italian
debt after the European Central Bank, and CEO Carlo Messina has
repeatedly called for Rome to use its high level of private
wealth and state assets to sustain its debt, achieving
"financial independence."  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS8N2VH05C  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2ZA4V9
    
    UNICREDIT  CRDI.MI 
    A new government may offer a clean slate to CEO Andrea Orcel
after he walked away from the proposed acquisition of Monte dei
Paschi di Siena  BMPS.MI  damaging relations with then Prime
Minister Draghi's government.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RK0AQ
    
    MONTE DEI PASCHI  BMPS.MI  
    The formation of the new government will provide the
backdrop to the state-owned bank's latest cash call in October,
which hits markets at a difficult juncture. 
    The new government will also face the commitment to
re-privatise the bank, after the previous executive secured a
years-long extension of an end-2021 deadline to cut Rome's 64%
stake in the bank.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N30K1NH  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RK0AQ
            
    ENERGY/UTILITIES
    ----------------   
    Italy has introduced measures to tax energy companies to
help fund schemes to shield firms and families from surging
power costs.
    The centre-right coalition's manifesto supports the proposal
of a Europe-wide energy price cap, an idea put forward by the
current administration that still lacks broad support in Europe.
    The centre-right wants to negotiate with Brussels changes to
Italy's Recovery Plan to increase spending to tackle the energy
crisis and relaunch investments in nuclear energy.
    
    ENEL  ENEI.MI , ENI  ENI.MI 
    Meloni ruled out taking full control of national energy
groups Eni and Enel, as the French government has done with EDF
 EDF.PA , while reaffirming it is the government's duty to
shield nationally relevant assets and avoid foreign takeovers.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N3004XP
    The new government will decide whether to renew the
contracts of the CEOs of Enel and Eni which both come up next
year.
    
    SNAM  SRG.MI 
    The state-controlled gas grid operator in June bought a
floating LNG regasification terminal (FSRU) to support efforts
to find alternative gas supplies.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2XO186     
    Snam expects to get approval from the government and local
authorities to start work to moor the terminal in Piombino,
Tuscany, by the end of October. It aims to connect it to the gas
network by next spring to increase LNG imports. 
    The new government could decide to slow down or accelerate
the infrastructure which is already facing resistance from local
authorities.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N30C2VF urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2ZO4LD
     
    DEFENCE
    -------     
    Meloni has spoken out strongly in support of the Western
alliance on Ukraine on a number of occasions, with pledges of
boosting defence spending.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N3004XP urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3050IN urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N30B099
    
    LEONARDO  LDOF.MI 
    CEO Alessandro Profumo said on July 28 the state-owned
defence group was working to reach a deal for the sale of its
OTO Melara cannon maker unit and its naval torpedo unit Wass,
but needed a new government in Rome to be able to finalise any
potential agreement.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2Z99DL
    Like the CEOs of Eni and Enel, Profumo's term comes up for
renewal next year.
    
    TELECOMS
    --------
    
    TELECOM ITALIA (TIM)  TLIT.MI 
    Brothers of Italy has called for a renationalisation of the
telecoms group as part of plans to create a single broadband
network in Italy by combining TIM's landline grid with that of
state-owned rival Open Fiber.
    That clashes with TIM CEO Pietro Labriola's strategy of
selling TIM's network to state lender CDP to focus on services. 
    Brothers of Italy has welcomed CDP's decision to wait for
the election before filing its non-binding bid for TIM's
network.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS8N2YA0I6
    
    RAI WAY  RWAY.MI  
    State broadcaster RAI has frozen talks on a potential deal
to combine its broadcasting tower unit Rai Way with rival firm
EiTowers, partly owned by Italy's top commercial broadcaster MFE
 MFEA.MI , until after the election, sources have said.
    
    
    AIRLINES
    --------
    
    ITA AIRWAYS
    On Aug. 31, Italy picked a group led by U.S. private equity
fund Certares, backed by Air France-KLM  AIRF.PA  and Delta Air
Lines Inc  DAL.N , for exclusive talks on buying a majority
stake in flagship carrier ITA Airways.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N307233
    Brothers of Italy has called for the new government to be
allowed to make a final decision on ITA.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N3004XP.
($1 = 0.9993 euros)

 (Compiled by Alessandro Parodi, Enrico Sciacovelli and Luca
Fratangelo, editing by Susan Fenton)
 ((Enrico.Sciacovelli@thomsonreuters.com; +48587720309;))