Almost seventy tables, involving over 80 thousand workers. Thus opens 2022 on the front of corporate crises. Situations that in many cases have distant origins and involve many sectors from automotive to air transport. A context already in difficulty, put even more under pressure by the pandemic, during which, however, the government’s measures have contained the emergence of new crisis situations. This is the picture of the situation, explains Luca Annibaletti, coordinator of the new structure for business crises of the Ministry of Economic Development, which officially took office just under a month ago.
The sectors most involved: from automotive to air transport
“According to the investigation conducted by the structure, the crisis tables currently open at the Mise are 69, with 55 active tables and 14 monitoring tables for a total of over 80 thousand workers involved”, says Annibaletti, who is preparing to reconvene from the next days “all the main tables, including Gkn, now called QF, for which a trade union agreement will have to be reached and the reindustrialisation process will have to be concretized”. “The crises are of a financial, industrial nature or related to the closure or conversion of production plants” and the “sectors most affected are the automotive, steel / metalworking, household appliances and air transport sectors, while the sectors are less involved where the typical excellences of Made in Italy are concentrated », says the manager of the Mise.
The territories concerned
At a geographical level, he adds, “from a purely numerical point of view, the crises are distributed throughout the Italian territory, even if some concentrations in the Belluno area, Piombino and in the southern and island regions have a greater influence on the fabric”. Difficult situations that in many cases have persisted for years. “The most complex crises, relating to the closure or conversion of plants, have distant origins and are linked both to the lack of competitiveness of our low-end products and to the acquisition of our national champions by foreign multinationals”, explains Annibaletti, whereas, on the other hand, in relation to the situation linked to Covid, he points out that the government’s support measures have “limited the occurrence of cases of financial crisis in the sectors most affected by the pandemic”.
The new structure for business crises
Help is now also expected from the new structure, made up of 10 experts and operational since 10 December. “The ten experts were divided into three working groups, one in direct support of the crisis tables, the second dedicated to companies in extraordinary administration and a third that will work on policies and regulatory proposals as well as on interventions to attract foreign investments in reindustrialisation of Italian companies in crisis “, says Annibaletti: an articulation of tasks” aimed at enhancing the skills of the experts to provide the structure with the greatest possible contribution to crisis management “.
Public intervention in the capital of companies in crisis
One tool that will continue to be looked at is certainly the so-called “Corneliani method”, with public participation in a minority share in the capital of companies in crisis, alongside private investors. “The positive result obtained at the Corneliani table testifies to the effectiveness of a method adopted to safeguard and relaunch Sicamb and Canepa as well, in similar crisis situations”, explains Annibaletti.