Lombardy, go-ahead for mergers between companies in which the municipalities hold shares
By the end of the year new mergers, collaboration and the creation of an information technology company
by Sara Monaci
3' min read
3' min read
Trials of mergers between northern subsidiaries. After years of debates on possible alliances and experiments with synergies (the best known being Water alliance in the water sector in Lombardy), a more decisive push towards mergers and corporate acquisitions between local authority companies is now beginning to be seen. This is a desirable process for a number of reasons: financial, for greater efficiency in investments, economies of scale and capitalisation; but also in terms of expertise, since in many cases there is an exchange of know-how. This is why the trade association Confservizi (in this case of Lombardy) pushes for and acts as a director for these operations.
In the coming months we will see three of them: the aggregation between Bea (Brianza Energia Ambiente) and BrianzAcque, the sole manager of the province of Monza and Brianza; the creation of an Information technology company between Alfa, which manages the water service in the Province of Varese, BrianzAcque and Gruppo Cap, the public utility that manages the integrated water service in the metropolitan City of Milan and other large areas of Lombardy; the acquisition by Gruppo Cap of 20% of Ala, sold by Amga, with the possibility of increasing to 40% within the next three years through a share capital increase. Ala is the environmental company of the Amga Group, created from the contribution of the hygiene services branches of Legnano, Magenta and Gallarate.
They are territorial, but relatively important in the world of local participations in the North.
The first operation led by BrianzAcque will create a group with 265 million assets, 400 employees and 56 municipalities. With its entry into Bea, which will close by the end of this year, the public service will be simplified. 'The member municipalities of the two companies and the Province have long encouraged an operation of this kind, but in order to achieve the objective we preferred to opt for a considered path, evaluating the technical criticalities. We can now say that we have concluded the preliminary and technical verification of the project,' say Mario Carlo Novara and Enrico Boerci, president of Bea and managing director of BrianzAcque respectively. The subject will remain public.
The second operation is the creation of a new It company controlled by Alfa, which manages the water service in the Province of Varese, the Cap group and BrianzAcque. This is also expected to close between 2025 and 2026. The new entity will provide services for the Italian utility market and thus may also be open to other operators.
