airport infrastructure
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
and transport services. The group manages of toll motorways,
Fiumicino
Fiumicino () is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 80,500 (2019). It is known for being the site of Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, the busiest airport in Italy and the eleventh-b ...
and
Ciampino
Ciampino () is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, Italy. It was a ''frazione'' of Marino until 1974, when it became a ''comune''; it obtained the city ( it, città) status (being therefore officially known as Citt� ...
airports in Italy and the three airstrips of Nice, Cannes-Mandelieu and Saint Tropez in France with more than 60 million passengers a year.
It is listed on the
Borsa Italiana
Borsa Italiana, based in Milan, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervising disclosures for listed companies.italy24.ils ...
and is a constituent of the
FTSE MIB
The FTSE MIB (Milano Indice di Borsa) (the S&P/MIB prior to June 2009) is the benchmark stock market index for the Borsa Italiana, the Italian national stock exchange, which superseded the MIB-30 in September 2004. The index consists of the 40 mo ...
index.
The main shareholders are: Edizione (a company of the
Benetton family
Four members of the Italian Benetton family () founded the Benetton Group S.p.A. fashion company in 1965.CRT Foundation,
Lazard Asset Management
Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's lar ...
,
HSBC Holdings
HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tril ...
.
History
1950–2000: Foundation and consolidation
Founded in 1950 as Autostrade, when the company Concessioni e Autostrade S.p.A. was created, it aimed to give a significant contribution, cooperating with other Groups, to the
post-war
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...
reconstruction of Italy.
By the first agreement between ANAS signed in 1956, the companies were committed in co-financing, building and managing the Autostrada Del Sole, between Milan and Naples, inaugurated in 1964. Between 1962 and 1968, the Company was granted the concession for the construction and operation of other motorways. In 1982 it was acquired by Italstat and in 1987 Autostrade Concessioni e Costruzioni S.p.A. was listed on Borsa Valori of Milan.
In 1999, the Autostrade company was privatized. The consortium led by Schemaventotto S.p.A. (Edition of Benetton Group 60%, Fondazione CRT with 13.33%, Acesa Italia with 12.83%, Assicurazioni Generali and Unicredito Italiano both at 6.67% and Brisa International SGPS SA with 0.50%) and another one pulled by the Australian bank Macquarie, who retreated at last, were the other groups in the line.
With the 30% of the capital, Schemaventotto S.p.A. takes over the IRI Group, which was the reference shareholder. They did the only binding purchase offer for the share package paying IRI €5.05 billion; the remaining 56% of the shareholding held by IRI was intended to the stock market by a public sale offer which led to obtain 8.75 billion lire, for a total sum for IRI of 13,800 billion lire.
In January 2003 Newco28 made a tender offer, through a leveraged buyout operation: they found the liquidity necessary for the acquisition using the system credit and, consequently, the debt was transferred from Newco28 to Autostrade, following a merger by incorporation.
2003 was marked by a massive reorganisation of the group, the concession activities were separated from non-motorway activities and Autostrade per l'Italia S.p.A., a subsidiary of Autostrade (now Atlantia S.p.A.), was established.
2000–Present: Company renamed as Atlantia Spa
During 2005, a process of geographical diversification began with the acquisition of the management of approximately 2,000 km of toll motorways in Brazil, Chile, India, and Poland. In 2007, the Board of Directors approved the change of name into Atlantia S.p.A.
In 2013, the merger by incorporation of Gemina S.p.A., the majority shareholder of ADR (Aeroporti di Roma) into Atlantia, was concluded, with the consequent aggregation of a second core business in addition to the motorway concessions. Atlantia's acquisition of Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur, the company that controls the airports of Nice, Cannes-Mandelieu and Saint Tropez, consolidated the Group's presence in the airport sector.
During the summer of 2017, Atlantia declared the intention to make a tender offer on all the issued shares of Abertis Infraestructuras, and in October 2017 the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores authorised this. Just over a week later the Hochtief – Acs Group launched a bid against the tender offer to acquire the Spanish company. In March 2018 Atlantia and Hochtief-Acs reached an agreement for a joint offer for the control of Abertis, which was finalised in October 2018.
To acquire 98.7% of the capital of Abertis the parties invested €16.5 billion.
In March 2018 Atlantia S.p.A. bought 15.49% of Getlink, the company that controls the Channel Tunnel.
As of December 2019, Atlantia had an EBITDA of 5.7 billions euros, financial debts for 36.7 bln (in respect of 38.8 bln of the previous year) and net profits for 136 million euros (in respect of 775 mln declared in 2018).
In June 2021, Atlantia sold its 88% stake in ASPI (comprising its largest Italian motorways) to the newly formed Holding Reti Autostradali spa (HRA).
With regard to sustainability ratings, as of July 2014 Atlantia had a low rating from Standard Ethics Aei of 'E' on a scale of F to EEE
within the SE Italian Index. It was further reduced to "E-" on 10 October 2019 in relation to the management following the Morandi bridge collapse, and was then finally suspended by press release on 22 September 2022.
Controversies
2018: Morandi Bridge collapse
On 14 August 2018, the Atlantia owned
Morandi Bridge
(English: Morandi Bridge), officially (English: Polcevera Viaduct), was a road viaduct in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, constructed between 1963 and 1967 along the A10 motorway over the Polcevera River, from which it derived its official name. It c ...
collapsed causing the death of 43 people.
2018: High debt issue
In 2018, the net debt level of Atlantia and the subsidiary Autostrade per l'Italia, had raised concerns from journalists and rating agencies.