EU green light, Italo-NTV in Swiss and U.S. hands

Brussels – Farewell Italo: first American, then Swiss, finally Swiss-American. What is certain is that the rail company active in high-speed rail stops for good, officially and once more, being primarily Italian and European. The European Commission gave the green light to MSC of Switzerland and Global Investment of the U.S. to purchase joint control. These two groups will manage the company founded in 2006 by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Gianni Punzo, Diego Della Valle, and Giuseppe Sciarrone. NTV had already been sold to Global Investment in 2018, with the approval from the community executive. In October 2023, MSC entered the scene, taking over what was left of the Italian high-speed passenger transport alternative to Trenitalia by acquiring a 50 percent stake. Now the new arrangement: based on the proposed transaction notified to the EU Commission, MSC will retain 49.23 percent of the shares and Global Investment 34.38 percent. Non-EU operators will therefore own 83.61 percent of Italo-NTV.

However, it remains, albeit formally, a part of the European Union, as MSC will control the company active in high-speed rail transport through SAS – Shipping Agencies Services, MSC’s holding company based in Luxembourg. SAS is active in container shipping services, ocean cruises, passenger shipping services, tour operator services, and travel agency services. Global Investments, on the other hand, is an infrastructure investor in energy, transportation, digital, water, and waste.

The link-up between these two different groups led the EU antitrust authority to consider that the proposed business transaction would not pose problems for the functioning of the internal market or for competition in the sector in which Italo is active. Hence, the green light came after not even a month of review. The merger request was filed and registered in Brussels on Feb. 2.