Società Italiana per Condotte d'Acqua SpA, known simply as Condotte d'acqua is an Italian company
that operates in the engineering and construction sector.
It was founded in 1880 as a limited company dedicated to the design, realisation and management of hydraulic and land reclamation works. Having changed hands several times, in 2018 Condotte d’Acqua went into extraordinary administration.
In July 2023, Condotte's core business was acquired by Tiberiade Holding Spa.
History
It was founded on 7 April 1880 as a limited company dedicated to the design, construction and management of hydraulic and reclamation works that transported water “for civic, agricultural and industrial uses”. It was owned by the
Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See
The Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA; ) is the office of the Roman Curia that deals with the "provisions owned by the Holy See in order to provide the funds necessary for the Roman Curia to function". It was established ...
and
Società Italiana per le Strade Ferrate Meridionali
''Società'' (Italian: ''Society'') was an Italian communist cultural magazine published in Italy between 1945 and 1961.
History and profile
''Società'' was founded as a quarterly magazine in Florence in 1945. The founders were Ranuccio Bianch ...
until 1970. It was listed on the
Milan Stock Exchange
Borsa Italiana () or Borsa di Milano (), based in Milan at Mezzanotte Palace, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervi ...
in 1884.
It was purchased by financier
Michele Sindona
Michele Sindona (; 8 May 1920 – 22 March 1986) was an Italian banker and convicted felon. Known in banking circles as "The Shark", Sindona was a banker for the Sicilian Mafia and the Vatican. Sindona was a member of the fascist Propagand ...
who subsequently sold it to the IRI-Italstat group. The company was heavily involved in the lavish construction of the port of
Bandar Abbas
Bandar Abbas (, ) is a city in the Central District of Bandar Abbas County, Hormozgan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Bandar Abbas is a port on the southern coast of the country, on the Persian ...
in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
: following the revolution led by
Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...
, it did not receive the payments it was due.
It was later acquired and recapitalised by the IRI-Iritecna group.
In
1997
Events January
* January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States.
* January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis.
* January 1 ...
it was privatised by Fintecna via its sale to
Ferrocemento Costruzioni e
Lavori Pubblici spa owned by Roman contractor Paolo Bruno. The company was delisted and following Paolo Bruno’s death in February 2013 came under the control of his daughter, Isabella. Already at the helm of the company was
Duccio Astaldi, Isabella Bruno's husband and representative of the branch of the Astaldi family that in 2000 left the family business (
Astaldi
Astaldi S.p.A. is an Italian multinational major construction company based in Rome. The group is active in the fields of civil engineering, hydraulic engineering, electromechanical engineering and transportation.
Significant subsidiaries incl ...
) controlled by the branch of the family headed by Paolo Astaldi.
Since 2016 Condotte has been part of the Grandi Opere General Contracting group controlled by the Ferfina holding company owned by the Bruno Tolomei Frigerio family. With Duccio Astaldi chairman of the management board and
Franco Bassanini chairman of the supervisory board. A postage stamp celebrated its centenary.
Condotte (Italy's third-largest construction company) began to suffer a liquidity crisis at the beginning of 2018 when the company, almost €2 billion in debt (owing €1 billion to banks and €1 billion to suppliers), submitted to the court of Rome an application for a
company voluntary arrangement
Under UK insolvency law an insolvent company can enter into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). The CVA is a form of composition, similar to the personal IVA (individual voluntary arrangement), where an insolvency procedure allows a compa ...
in order to manage the company's large order book (€6 billion) and the problem of collecting the substantial credits owed by public authorities. Dozens of key works came under threat, from the HSR station in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
to Città della Salute in
Sesto San Giovanni
Sesto San Giovanni (; , ), locally referred to as just Sesto (), is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy. It was awarded with the honorary title of ''città'' (city) by decree of 10 Apri ...
and the new General Hospital of
Caserta
Caserta ( ; ) is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. An important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city, Caserta is located 36 kilometres north of Naples on the edge of the Campanian p ...
. The aim of the initiative, made even more complicated by the corruption prosecution that led to the house arrest of chairman Duccio Astaldi, was to create a Newco with a substantial order book and leave the debts to a ''bad company''.
In the summer of 2018 the company faced bankruptcy with €200 million required to save it. On 6 August 2018, three commissioners (Matteo Uggetti, Giovanni Bruno, Alberto Dello Strologo) were appointed, drawn by lots from a list of 14 professionals, with the goal of safeguarding the company's business continuity under the Marzano law. Their first action was to pay the salaries of the company’s 2,800 employees, which had been frozen since April. In March 2019 the reorganisation plan was presented which involved a €60 million bridge loan from eight different banks, a procedure approved in June 2019 by the Ministry of Economic Development.
After five years of extraordinary administration, July 2023 saw the completion of the acquisition of Condotte's core business by Imprecim, renamed “Società Italiana per le Condotte d’Acqua 1880”, a subsidiary of Tiberiade Holding which is owned by a branch of the
Mainetti family. The transaction has a total value of 345 million euros (105 million euros as transaction cost and 240 million euros for the replacement of guarantees). At the time of the acquisition, the portfolio of works, including contracts and concessions, was worth €7 billion.
Activities
The first work carried out by the company was the 80-kilometre
Villoresi Canal project worth 16 million lire.
Later, the company built railway tunnels, penstocks,
hydroelectric power stations
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
,
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...
s, 640
aqueducts
Aqueduct may refer to:
Structures
*Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley
*Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...
,
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...
s (including the
Polcevera viaduct in Genoa, also known as the “Morandi Bridge”) and
skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...
s. Società Italiana per Condotte d'Acqua also carried out the works for the construction of the Italian side of
Mont Blanc Tunnel
The Mont Blanc Tunnel (, ) is a highway tunnel between France and Italy, under Mont Blanc in the Alps. It links Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France with Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy, via the French Route Nationale 205 and the Italian Traforo T1 ...
.
At the height of the company crisis, in the summer of 2018, the most delicate situations revolved around the
Brenner Base Tunnel
The Brenner Base Tunnel (; ) is a railway tunnel under construction through the base of the Eastern Alps beneath the Brenner Pass. Once completed, the Brenner Base Tunnel will rank as either the second or third longest railway tunnel in the wor ...
in Austrian territory (in which Condotte has a 35% stake; the other shareholders are the Austrian companies Porr and Interregger and Italian company
Itinera); the Storstrom Bridge in Denmark together with Itinera; the joint construction site in Algeria with
Rizzani De Eccher
Rizzani de Eccher S.p.A. is an Italian general contractor with headquarters in Pozzuolo del Friuli, in Northeastern Italy, active globally in the areas of engineering, infrastructure and buildings construction.
History
Rizzani was established ...
for 150 kilometres of railway; Città della Salute in
Sesto San Giovanni
Sesto San Giovanni (; , ), locally referred to as just Sesto (), is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy. It was awarded with the honorary title of ''città'' (city) by decree of 10 Apri ...
with Lombardia Infrastrutture as contracting authority; the Verona-Brescia HSR line and the Verona-Padua HSR line; the Milan-Genoa Third Pass with
Impregilo
Webuild S.p.A. (previously Salini Impregilo S.p.A.; ) is an Italian industrial group specialising in construction and civil engineering. The company was formally founded in 2014 as the result of the merger by incorporation of Salini into Impregi ...
.
Subsidiares companies
The following companies form part of the group:
* Condotte America Inc. (For sale)
* Condotte Romania Srl
* Condotte Algerie eurl
* C2i Srl
* C.I. Power Srl
*
Tenuta Roncigliano Srl (for sale)
References
{{Authority control
Construction and civil engineering companies of Italy
Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1880
Italian companies established in 1880