Tortora: 'The new Mps board of directors towards common goals, the bank's interest is above the shareholders'

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - "I have never sought confrontation, because it is not a victory of one against the other. We presented a list open to the market in the exclusive interest of the bank, because the institution is above the shareholders". It has been less than a month since the industrialist Pierluigi Tortora, patron of Plt Holding, launched himself into the Mps fray with a list that eventually brought Luigi Lovaglio back to the dashboard at Rocca Salimbeni. For some, it was almost a mission impossible, but he shows that he believed in it right from the start: 'I have always had faith,' he explains during an interview with Radiocor, during which he lines up the things that have been achieved and those that await the bank in its imminent future.

The starting point, he reiterates, even in the relationship between shareholders, is to make 'the interest of the bank prevail'. From the shareholders' meeting emerged 'a fine board of directors with a significant composition in terms of skills. Figures who, for what their careers have been, are above certain issues, and will know how to find the synthesis towards a common goal'. Asked about it, while specifying that the strategy will be the management's, Tortora sees for Mps 'a path of organic growth, but ambitions must always be in mind, depending on market conditions'.

The Romagna industrialist then denies that behind the scenes there was also diplomatic work by the current chairman of Piazzetta Cuccia, Vittorio Grilli, to try to bring the Lovaglio list to victory: 'To me it does not appear so. We met with Grilli at the beginning of the year, because I felt I had to go and say hello to him after he had taken office at Mediobanca. It was a gesture of courtesy, I certainly had no intention of presenting a list for Mps, it was premature'. Nor was he speaking with Francesco Milleri, who has deployed the full weight of the Delfin target="_self" href="https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/ecco-perche-delfin-ha-scelto-appoggiare-lovaglio-AIymyjWC">holding of the Del Vecchio in support of the Plt list: 'I have not spoken with any investor. Delfin I am convinced has made a decision internally for reasons, it seems to me judging from the outside, of extreme consistency. A relative majority shareholder, supporting an industrial plan, expressing appreciation for the CEO several times, I believe it has decided to believe in Lovaglio and his programme'. Instead Banco Bpm, 'for me it was a pleasant surprise, which I appreciated very much'.

This financial game, at least in his eyes, also has an emotional side. What strikes Tortora, as he himself recounts, is the affectionate bond that the city has shown towards the oldest credit institution in the world: 'I was very surprised by the territory's attachment to the bank, because the demonstrations, before the result of the vote, were of thanks, regardless of the final outcome, even from former employees. It all translated into a very emotional moment after the result, in the evening in the street...'. To understand it, he explains, you had to be there in person. The assembly 'was very heartfelt and, if one does not live there, one does not have the perception from the outside, even though one knows all the history, the wounds and the rebirths' that have punctuated the recent life of Monte dei Paschi. "There is an incredible cohesion around and inside the bank, even with the employees. For me it is the victory of the city of Siena'.

The entrepreneur then repeatedly praises Lovaglio, a figure who possesses 'a great intellectual honesty, values that are perceived empathetically' and does not comment on the suggestions of a so-called 'third pole' banking centre, which are currently being discussed by the operators at Piazza Affari: 'The outcome of the shareholders' meeting is a starting point. There is an industrial plan that must be executed very quickly to exploit synergies and give stability to the bank, because it must grow'.