This was established by the Venice Business Court, accepting the thesis of the municipalities that had contested the prices, criteria and methods of liquidation. Exult Spresiano, Mareno, Cison, Giavera, Trevignano Segusino, Pieve di Soligo, Follina and Riese. Stoppata S.Lucia
TREVISO. Two million shares of Ascopiave; interests; and also a share of legal fees. No less than 10 million, perhaps 11 million, AscoHolding, the parent company of Ascopiave, will have to pay nine municipalities who withdrew in 2018: Spresiano, Cison di Valmarino, Follina, Giavera, Pieve di Soligo, Mareno, Segusino, Trevignano, Riese.
This was established by the Court of Companies of Venice, accepting the thesis of the municipalities that had contested the prices, criteria and methods of the liquidation, which took place after the statutory changes and the war in the parent company. There were 10 applicants, but Santa Lucia saw the request rejected, having not then opted for the share swap but only for a “cash” settlement. A front on which no request for revaluation has passed.
The 9 municipalities AscoHolding will have to pay interest, at a legal rate from 20 to 23 May 2019 and subsequently according to the fees of the civil code. A further 504,042 Ascopiave shares will then go to Spresiano; to Cison 251,981 shares; in Follina 206,974; in Giavera 297,654; in Pieve di Soligo another 23,340; in Mareno 453.226: in Segusino 248.234; in Trevignano 44,249; 2,639 shares in Riese.
In Spresiano alone, the judges’ sentence actually brings 2.2 million in treasury; 1.7 to Mareno; 1.4 to Giavera; 1.3 to Cison; 1,2 to Segusino; 1 in Follina. Less in Trevignano, Pieve di Soligo and Riese.
Heavy defeat for the Holding, which owns 52% of Ascopiave. And the inevitable political-administrative implication: the civic front won, the rebel mayors who have always contested the board of directors and the majority of mayors, the Lega- Pd block (in part) and Forza Italia. A drain that could have been even greater, if the court had also accepted the thesis contesting the liquidation price applied by the board of directors (€ 3.75 / share, instead of € 4.04, or € 4.192). But on this point the court ruled that the extent of the difference is not such as to constitute unfairness. Hence the “defeat” of Santa Lucia, liquidated only in cash and not with the exchange of shares like the other 9 fellow municipal partners.
The verdict closes – for now – a war that began in July 2018, when the Holding proposed statutory changes. The civic municipalities, in profound disagreement, asked to make use of the right of withdrawal, while remaining members with minimum shares. The dispute arose on the price fixed for the liquidation, and on the swap in Ascopiave shares (1.4 shares for each share of the parent company).
“We are extremely satisfied”, say the applicants mayors, “If we have decided to appeal to justice it is because a transaction with the counterpart we have proposed has not been successful”. According to the well-informed, the holding would have offered less than half of what the “rebels” were asking.
No official statement from the Pieve di Soligo headquarters. But it transpires that the board of directors will examine the sentence, which, while rejecting several requests from the civic municipalities, has accepted the structure of the case.
One certainty: dividends to municipalities are not in question. But the sentence brings with it a thousand implicenses. The jurists point out that the verdict does not help the municipalities that have chosen the exchange, but have not filed a lawsuit: Vittorio Veneto, Caerano, Cavaso, Pieve del Grappa, Possagno, Maser and Meolo. The judges indirectly certify an impoverishment of their assets.