Pizzarotti replies to Ance 'Market operation that does not violate regulations'

The Pizzarotti case, the operation by which the historic construction company, now under negotiated settlement, is about to sell its railway branch to FS. Yesterday, the Parma-based company sent a document to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development, as well as to Anac, Agcm and the European Commission, defending the operation and responding to Ance, the national builders' association, which in recent days had also raised doubts about the possible new structure in terms of competition. The company states that the operation "is part of the reorganisation process" also to acquire "the financial resources that would allow it to easily overcome the temporary state of imbalance, thus remaining fully operational on the market". On the objections concerning an alleged disguised direct awarding, Pizzarotti recalls the European discipline of special sectors, arguing that "the vertical integration operation being implemented by FS is not supported by the logic of in-house awarding".

According to the company, 'the NewCo that will result as the transferee of the Target Branch will integrate the structure of the FS Group as a new specialised (captive) company in the railway line construction sector' with the objective of 'structuring itself to also carry out on its own the production process instrumental to the provision of the service'. A path that, according to Pizzarotti, is supported by EU regulations. The company also calls into question the Pnrr and "the amount of works that will be put on site in the next few years", contesting that "the establishment of an operator controlled by FS for the execution of works through direct awarding pursuant to article 142 of the Public Contracts may alter competition or take significant market shares away from private operators".

With regard to the potential conflict of interest feared by the builders due to the controlling relationship between the parent company and the subsidiary, Pizzarotti points out that 'it is precisely the rules set out in Article 142 of the Public Contracts Code that rule out the possibility of a conflict of interest in the case of the awarding of public contracts by a public company to its subsidiary'. In the defence document, Pizzarotti also replies to Ance's hypothesis that the future company of the FS group could "perform services in association with other private companies, regardless of any form of public evidence". A hypothesis that the company defines as unfounded: "The future contracts that the NewCo will be called upon to perform will be legitimately entrusted by FS through the institution set forth in Article 142 of the Public Contracts Code (and not through the different institution of in-house providing)".

In the next part of the document, Pizzarotti then addresses the issue of the economic valorisation of the branch and rejects the alleged violation of state aid regulations: "it is certainly not within the company's competence" to resolve the doubts raised, but it is hard to understand how the operation can fall within the perimeter of the Tfue given that the purchase would take place "after a competitive comparison", "at market prices" and without "any distortion of competition".In conclusion, for Pizzarotti, the 'Project Rail' operation does not 'violate any of the regulations provided for by the current national and European Union regulatory compendium', and does not prejudice 'competition and free market profiles' but on the contrary 'represents an opportunity for public-private synergy'.