LAWN. Time passes, times change and the assets that were considered strategic yesterday are no longer strategic today. This explains the decision of Confindustria Toscana Nord which yesterday evening, March 27, announced the forthcoming exit from Gida, the public-private company that manages the industrial aqueduct of Prato.
The general council gave president Daniele Matteini the mandate to sign an agreement of intent with Alia for the sale of the Gida shares held by the association. The mandate was awarded unanimously.
Thus ends a story that began in 1981, 43 years ago, and which is often held up as an example of profitable collaboration between public and private in a strategic sector.
At the end of the process, the industrialists will sell 45.08% of Gida’s shares to Alia, which already owns 8%.
«What led to today’s resolution by the General Council – explains President Matteini – was a long and complex process, aimed above all, on our part, at protecting the interests of companies. The participation of the Unione Industriale Pratese, now Confindustria Toscana Nord, in the establishment of Gida in 1981 was born from the desire to make companies protagonists in the management of what was already perceived at that time as an aspect of primary importance for the local industry, textile in particular: the water resource, its purification and, with the subsequent construction of the industrial aqueduct, its reuse. With the changing scenarios in the world of services, it was believed that the same objective of protecting the interests of companies could be pursued more effectively by inserting Gida into the context of the multi-utility which is being formed on the initiative of Alia. Together with the Progetto Acqua Consortium and with particular involvement of the Fashion System section, we have worked to reach an agreement that we consider satisfactory”.
The agreement provides guarantees for companies in relation to the amount of the purification tariff both immediately (balance of the 2023 annuity and 2024 annuity) and for the years during which the process of merging centralized purification into the water system will take place Integrated managed by Publiacqua. The investment chapter is particularly important to companies: for purification and sewerage, Alia has committed 30 million euros over the next 5 years, within the total 43 million envisaged by the Tuscany Water Authority for the Prato area; a further 18 million will be invested by Alia, again over the next 5 years, in the further development of the industrial aqueduct. This second aspect is strategic for the sustainability profile of the Prato textile district, allowing it to reach the “zero water discharge” objective. The appraisal included in the agreement estimates the consideration for the Confindustria Toscana Nord shares that will pass to Alia at 6.091 million euros. According to the rules that Confindustria Toscana Nord adopted when it was founded, the Prato companies will have a prominent role in the use over time of the financial resources that will reach the association following the sale of the Gida shares. However, 2.5 million euros will return to the association’s common fund, from which it was drawn for the company’s recapitalization operations.
