That assembly cannot be held. And indeed, a “special curator” now arrives for Umbria gas distribution, the lawyer Francesco Domenico Pugliese, appointed by Sara Fioroni, judge of the third civil section (specializing in business matters) of the court of Perugia. The matter of the renewal of the UDG board of directors is therefore complicated after the renewal last April.
After the appointment of the directors, the board of directors should have proceeded with the assignment of the roles and therefore indicated the new CEO and the new president of the company (made up of Acea and ASM for 55 percent and Italgas for the remaining 45 percent). cento) which deals with gas distribution in Terni. However, the body has not yet been established, although the names have now been defined: Stefano Tirinzi, former president of Umbria gas distribution and long-time manager of the municipal municipal utility, engineer Patrizia Vasta (Acea) and Bruno Ianniello (ASM, on indication of the Municipality of Terni). The three directors involved in Italgas are Bruno Burigana, former CEO of Udg, Nunzio Ferrulli and Riccardo Zinno.
Despite the absence of the board of directors, on May 31st Tirinzi, not as acting president but as a member of the board of directors, called an ordinary shareholders’ meeting to be held first on June 15th and then on June 17th at 5pm. Two the items on the agenda: the “state of the negotiations with Terni Reti and conferral of powers for the continuation of the negotiation and for the formalization and execution of the agreement” and the “inactivity of the board of directors in the appointment of the president and the managing director of the board of directors”.
I’ll step back. Udg has an ongoing dispute with Terni Reti regarding the agreement for the management of the gas network in the city, which expired in July 2019. Since then, Udg has maintained that the payment of concession fees is no longer due, while the company house in Palazzo Spada demands them. Stamped papers, opinions, transition proposals went on for years until – a breath away from the renewal of the board of directors – UDG put forward its own proposal: to close the deal at 26 million euros. Sixteen million would be paid in the two-year period 2024-2025 and the other ten in annual installments over the following four-year period. That is, from 1 August 2019 until 2029: the cost of using the network would thus be 2.6 million euros per year. But without a race.
And the point is right here. Because, having received the letter convening the meeting, Italgas appealed to the court of Perugia, arguing – essentially – that deciding on this issue is not up to the shareholders’ meeting, but to the board of directors. Therefore, first the board of directors is held and then we will proceed with the verification and (possible) ratification of the agreement.
“having read the appeal (…) filed on 10 June 2024 by Bruno Burigana, Nunziangelo Ferrulli and Riccardo Zinno, as directors of Umbria gas distribution – writes judge Sara Fioroni – considered that the conditions for issuing a decree exist unheard of other party of an injunction against the holding of the Umbria gas distribution meeting called for 15 June 2024 and, if necessary, for 17 June 2024, as the illegitimacy of the aforementioned call probably appears to exist”, the decision was to inhibit “to the Umbria gas distribution company to carry out the meeting” and to appoint “lawyer Francesco Domenico Pugliese as special administrator of the company”.
For now, therefore, no meeting and no agreement with Terni Reti. At least until the day of the hearing, scheduled for July 18th at 10.30am.
