Shareholders back Salini Impregilo merger

The merger of Italian contractors Impregilo and Salini, which was agreed by the companies in June, has been approved by both companies’ shareholders this week.

Impregilo will be changing its company name to Salini Impregilo, and will take over all of Salini’s previous commercial relationships.

The Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Impregilo appointed three new independent members of the board of directors to follow the appointments of Claudio Lautizi as group general manager for international operations, and Massimo Ferrari as group CFO and COO, and to replace Giorgio Rossi Cairo, who resigned on 9 July.

Nicola Greco, joins the board with immediate effect, as does Giacomo Marazzi. Franco Passacantando, will join from 15 December, to allow him to finish his work at Banca d’Italia.

Greco started his career in 1974 at Technipetrol (TPL) – now Technip Italy – and he was appointed deputy general manager and then CEO. He was also a member of the executive committee of the Technip Group.

Marazzi was, from 2005 to March 2013, chairman of Fondazione Cassa Risparmio Piacenza e Vigevano. From 1998 to 2007, he was chairman of AITEC (Associazione Tecnico Economica del Cemento). From 1992 to 2006 he was CEO of Industria Cementi Giovanni Rossi (Piacenza) and before that held leading positions in companies in the Iveco/Fiat Group. He is on the board of of Beni Stabili, Gruppo Cementi Rossi, Insulation System and Sirap Gema.

Passacantando is currently central director of Banca d’Italia for relations with supranational organisations. He is deputy governor of Banca d’Italia on the G20/G27 groups, a member of the Economic & Financial Committee of the European Union, a member of the OECD Working Party and a member of the Basel Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems.

The companies said the merger approved by the shareholders was part of a broader business and strategic plan launched in 2011 by Salini Costruttori with a view to creating a “Campione Nazionale” in the complex infrastructure and large-scale works construction sector, with shares listed on the Milan Telematic Bourse segment of the Italian stock exchange.

To focus the business of the two companies on the construction sector ahead of their integration, Salini and Impregilo have since September 2012 initiated major commercial synergies through the signing of a specific strategic agreement.

From 1 January, 2013, to 30 August, 2013, the two companies claim to have secured new orders worth €11 billion in Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Italy, Kazakhstan, Libya, Namibia, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Sierra Leone, Turkey and the US.