Montedison
Montedison , SpA was an Italian conglomerate and public company in the chemical / petrochemical , pharmaceutical, energy, paper, insurance, publishing, agro-industrial, engineering services sectors. Montedison was based in Milan .
Emergence
The group was formed in 1966 from the merger of Montecatini (founded in 1888 as a mining company ) from the chemical sector and Edison (founded in Milan in 1895), an electricity supplier . Montecatini had been the largest Italian chemical company in the first decades of the 20th century, but got into trouble during the 1950s.
Cefis crisis
In the 1970s, Montedison got into great financial difficulties under Eugenio Cefis . Cefis pursued political interests (among other things, he allowed himself to be pushed by the Italian state into a loss-making expansion course to create jobs in southern Italy) and embroiled the group in a political scandal in 1974 when it was discovered that he was receiving reports on leading politicians from military intelligence.
Rest under Schimberni
The situation only improved when veteran manager Mario Schimberni took over management in 1980 and restructured the group by the mid-1980s. In 1986 the company had sales of $ 10 billion with profits of $ 260 million. However, when Schimberni issued new shares for his expansion plans, which diminished the influence of old shareholders such as Mediobanca , he was ousted in 1987 when the Ferfin agro-group (headed by Raul Gardini, who had married into the family company) took out larger stake packages on the initiative of Mediobanca acquired.
Another decline under Gardini
Raul Gardini also became a board member of Montedison, but fell in 1990 when he got into trouble because of the high debt from his expansion course. He had to withdraw from a joint venture (Enimont) with the state-owned company Eni . Montedison was over $ 11 billion in debt in the early 1990s and suffered from a recession. In 1993, both Ferfin and Montedison had to be saved from bankruptcy through the intervention of an Italian banking consortium. At the same time, there was again a political scandal, have been studied as the activities of former management board Gardini in connection with public Enimont (Gardini committed 1993 suicide ).
Recreation, focus on agriculture and energy
In the mid-1990s, Montedison was back in the black and was also able to reduce its debts by the end of the 1990s. In 1997 the company had $ 13.3 billion in sales and 27,600 employees. The focus of the group in 1999 was in the agricultural sector (a 50% stake in Eridania- Béghin-Say , especially sugar) as well as in the energy subsidiary Edison (61% stake), in chemistry (Ausimont), pharmacy (antibiotics) and the Engineering company Tecnimont .
Acquisition by EdF and Fiat, liquidation, Edison Energia
In July 2002 the group was taken over by Italenergia , a joint venture between Electricité de France (EdF) and Fiat . Italenergia previously owned 52%. At this point in time, the group was heavily indebted (6.8 billion euros). Montedison was broken up after the takeover and only the electricity and gas sector (from 2002 Edison Energia) remained, which at the time of the takeover was number 2 in Italy (with a share of 10% of the electricity supply) behind the former state monopoly Enel . It was merged with Italenergia to form the new Edison Company ( Edison SpA ).
Environmental degradation
Between 1998 and 2001 those responsible for Montedison, Enichem and Enimont were on trial in Venice. The prosecutor's office was charged with the death of 157 workers at the company from cancer and cancer in a further 103 workers. In addition, the lagoon of Venice and the flowing waters from there were contaminated with dioxin in the period 1965 to 1985. The proceedings ended with acquittals for all those responsible, which triggered a wave of political protests.
There were further acquittals in the third and final instance in 2018 for other former managers of Montedison for the uncontrolled disposal of hazardous waste at the Bussi Officine chemical site in the province of Pescara , which over decades contaminated the drinking water of 700,000 people with, among other things, carcinogenic substances.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.icis.com
- ↑ The standard
- ^ Sito d'Interesse Nazionale “Bussi sul Tirino”. In: it.ejatlas.org. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (Italian).