Full Disclosure: Hawai`i Free Press, Inc. is preparing an offer to purchase Ansaldo Breda. After passing the hat around the newsroom, we have assembled what we believe to be a very generous offer of $4.79 (Four Dollars and Seventy-Nine Cents). But there are strings attached.
The offer is contingent on a commitment from officers of Finmeccanica SpA that none of the proceeds from our purchase will accrue to Moammar Gaddafi and no money will pass to to Silvio Berlusconi’s favorite alleged pimp, Gianpaolo Tarantini.
As of press time, Finmeccanica SpA has not agreed to our terms.
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Finmeccanica Said to Appoint Mediobanca to Advise on Transport
By Marco Bertacche and Sonia Sirletti
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Finmeccanica SpA, Italy’s biggest defense company, hired Mediobanca SpA as an adviser on strategic options for its transportation units, two people familiar with the situation said.
Mediobanca, the country’s biggest publicly traded investment bank, will look into options for Finmeccanica businesses including AnsaldoBreda, a fully owned train-making unit, and mass-transit specialist Ansaldo STS SpA, said the people, who declined to be named because the matter is private.
Several companies have expressed interest in the units, one of the people said. Rome-based Finmeccanica declined to comment.
Chief Executive Officer Giuseppe Orsi has said the state- controlled company may sell AnsaldoBreda, which is unprofitable, if it isn’t able to restructure it. Finmeccanica gets about 10 percent of its revenue from transportation businesses.
The company may be close to a deal to sell AnsaldoBreda to General Electric Co., which is also interested in Ansaldo STS, newspaper Il Tirreno reported Sept. 14, citing Alessio Bartolomei, a local official from Pistoia.
Alstom SA is also interested in AnsaldoBreda, seeking an acquisition or partnership, Il Sole 24 Ore reported Sept. 16, citing a letter from the French company’s Chief Executive Officer Patrick Kron to Finmeccanica.
Orsi said Sept. 20 that there were no parties in advanced talks to buy AnsaldoBreda and that the unit’s newly appointed CEO, Maurizio Manfellotto, is working on an updated business plan.
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“If something goes haywire, say so.” – Sen Dan Inouye, August 25, 2011
Haywire Defined: