Genoa bridge firm loses €4bn in value
ATLANTIA, the company behind the motorway bridge that collapsed in Genoa this week, has warned it could lose valuable contracts, wiping more than €4bn (£3.6bn) from its market value on the Milan bourse yesterday.
The infrastructure company, backed by the Benetton family, is the majority owner of Autostrade, which operates nearly half of Italy’s toll roads. The Italian government has said it will revoke the concession from Autostrade ahead of a criminal inquiry into Tuesday’s incident, which left at least 39 dead.
Deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio added that the state may have to take over Italy’s motorways if concession holders were not running them properly.
The government has also threatened Autostrade with hefty fines and demanded that it contribute to the reconstruction effort, although investigators have not established the cause of the incident on the bridge, which is part of a toll road running between the French and Italian rivieras.
Atlantia has previously said that it met all maintenance obligations for the 1.2km-long bridge.
Shares in Atlantia, which also manages Rome’s airports, fell 22.3pc to €18.30 yesterday in Milan. Although it is listed, the Benetton family are the largest investors and Gilberto Benetton, one of four brothers who founded the Benetton fashion chain, is on the board.
Atlantia said yesterday that it had not received an official complaint from the government before the announcement and that the causes of the disaster had not been identified.
It added that Autostrade was entitled to compensation for the early termination of the concession but warned that the “announcement may have impacts on Atlantia shareholders and bondholders”.