The expert Maurizio Dallocchio talks to CVA special commission
Yesterday, three Professors talked to CVA Special Commission and asserted that listing on the Stock Exchange is the key. According to Mr. Maurizio Dallocchio, tenured Professor of Corporate Finance at Bocconi University – Milan, listing can engender “conditions to grow”. A listed company is “more transparent and flexible” but it needs a different policy on dividends.
In accordance with figures he provided, in 2018 “CVA paid more dividends than any other company invested in by public bodies”. The two former municipal undertakings of Milan (A2A and Sea) “paid € 72mln to the Municipality of Milan, whereas CVA paid € 135mln to Finaosta”. According to Mr. Dallocchio, “a lot of money is taken away from company investments, from growth potential”.
Listing implication is “renouncing to a government component of the company” but it doesn’t correspond to a public control loss as “it’s impossible to buy out a company listing only 35% of its capital”. As suggested by the Professor, it will also be necessary to “issue bonds and to negotiate new loans or receivables”. In a comparison with competitors, CVA is “the less indebted company” with “enormous potentialities, but still untapped. In order to finance its development, it could also use indebtedness claim without running into sustainability problems”. Finally, Mr. Dallocchio warned the Regional Council against the fact that “without listing, it should be available to accept a minimum value for the company as a result of a number of constraints imposed by law, in a direct way or not”.
Mr. Nicola Aicardi, Administrative Law Professor at Bologna University, is even more mordant: “listing on the Stock Exchange is the key, it’s the easiest thing to do as it is also described by the national legislature. CVA competitors – most of which are companies with a government participating interest – are all listed on the Stock Exchange. Public bodies have decided to consciously follow this course, with no regrets or second thoughts” and “without losing the control of the companies”. “Listing on the Stock Exchange is the only possibility for CVA”. On the other side, implementing rules will be more complex. “I can see an object problem” in the “field of exclusive competence of the State. In my opinion, the implementation of the Statute would become an excuse”.
Another consent comes from Mr. Matteo di Castelnuovo, Director of the Master in Green Management at Bocconi University – Milan. He underlines the need to guarantee public control. “The speed at which this field is changing is impressive. A company willing to operate on the market needs to be based on flexible economic and business models. The public sector is then crucial to lead this evolution”.