Following its massive rights issue, a startling 70% of the equity of Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA is held by foreign investors, mainly American and British, and facing up to the new realities, chairman Carlo De Benedetti has asked for the syndicate of core shareholders to be disbanded. The syndicate has been diluted down to just under 20%, which means that even if it acted in concert, it no longer has enough muscle to affect the future of Olivetti if a hostile bid came in. Meantime the presence of an army of Americans and Brits with little long-term loyalty to the company on its share register mean that Olivetti is now under much greater pressure to turn itself round – or sell the business to someone who will. De Benedetti told the Corriere delle Sera that giant US corporations like IBM Corp and AT&T Corp were now the role models for Olivetti. The loosening of De Benedetti’s control and increased chance of bid gossip was not enough to put a floor under the share price last week, and the price withered for the third day in succession, closing off 1.3% at 914.2 lire – a lowly 57 cents. The shares lost 12.5% of their value over Wednesday and Thursday, after the warning of bigger losses.
