Salini is Astaldi II

All,

Salini: Had to disclose it is still chasing E300m of Receivables from Ethiopia and the Italian authorities are as delinquent as they have been for Astaldi and CMC. Circles around Pietro Salini are quite open that Salini Impreglio will be the next Astaldi. Having had the benefit of watching Paolo Astaldi lose his fortune, Pietro is accepting that a dilutive rights issue of E400m is the only way forward. If he can pull it off (Paolo tried) then banks can avoid another disaster (the biggest - given it would unravel also Astaldi bonding lines) and he can buy out CMC and Condotte as well. So it should be a no-brainer for the banks, but they’ve had a few already... Casa Depositi e Prestiti is allegedly on board, as are Unicredit, Intesa and BNP. Banks and government would add to their shareholding of Astaldi via Salini’s 65% stake, which might motivate government at least to start paying its bills. If Salini will be the one national champion carrying all the eggs, Italy would have no alternative but to improve payment morale (or that’s the theory). However, bonds are trading rich, shares are to be diluted and execution risk is enormous. So we are not yet falling in love with the situation. Does anyone have an angle they’d like to share?
Wolfgang