It is a story of international contracts and spy stories, of unprecedented auction discounts in the Italian public administration and of shamelessly played intrigues in the upper echelons of world finance. No one will ever accuse Vincenzo Onorato, Mascalzone Latino's patron maximum, of having played to the downside. Not even when, participating with his Cin - Tirrenia in the tender for territorial continuity from Porto Torres - Genoa, he dared to challenge, without any fear, the magnanimity of the spendthrift state. After all, in the offices of Porta Pia, seat of the Ministry of Transport, they were used to squandering money in order to feed the Tirrenia bandwagon, first of the State and then of Onorato. A river of money that has brought the stratospheric figure of 560 million euros in eight years into the pockets of the owner of Moby, except for extensions and unpaid money for the purchase of the company, all to manage the game of maritime territorial dis-continuity with Sardinia.
The face of the Minister
Who knows the face that the Minister of Transport Enrico Giovannini will have made yesterday when he was informed that Onorato, the one described as a tireless drainer of public money, has proposed a reduction of 98% to win the route between northern Sardinia and the first port Italian. An effective blow that has the impact force of an earthquake, capable of shaking not only the palaces of power in Rome, but also of shaking the prestigious vestiges of the Court of Auditors.
Invitalia race
The race is by Invitalia, the longa manus of the State, a factotum agency led by that Domenico Arcuri, already gone down in history as the largest buyer of masks in the world at the time of Covid. The public evidence of the proceedings is not drawn with the speed of lightning. Before going back to the contract, it is necessary to cross the hidden meanders of the thousand activities of the “Compagnia delle Opere di Stato”.
Offered 25 million
When you come across the tender, the title is illustrative: "Open procedure for the concession of the public service of maritime transport of passengers, vehicles and goods between Genoa and Porto Torres and vice versa with public service obligations for maritime territorial continuity". The heart of the tender is summarized: the State will give a total of 25.81 million euros for 5 years to the shipping company that will make the best discounted offer for the performance of the service. It is obvious that the State, by indicating that figure, will have made a precise analysis of the market, of the costs, of the type of service to offer. Those 25 million and eight hundred thousand euros should have been, according to the auspices of European legislation, the most objective figure possible to define the real cost of the service: fuel, personnel, insurance, ship rental or depreciation.
Costs invented?
Costs theoretically parameterized with the potential cash flows deriving from the sale of tickets, considering rich and poor seasons. In short, the state could not be wrong. It had to serve the interests, in theory, of the citizens and, at the same time, of the public coffers. Instead, Onorato, the one who has collected a mountain of public money from the same offices for a non-existent territorial continuity, defeats in his own way, with a boomerang offer, both for the offices of Porta Pia and for Invitalia itself.
The shock shock
The decline of the Patron of Mascalzone Latino sows terror in the buildings, the same ones that filled it with money, probably when there was no need for it. To disavow himself, and the Ministry, it is he, that gambler without rules, who offers, albeit in a de facto commissioner regime, a reduction that is unprecedented in the history of public administration.
The great renunciation
With that offer that upsets all predictions, Onorato has renounced the beauty of 25 million and 200 thousand euros, so much he would have earned for 5 years of connections to and from Sardinia. Instead, he is "satisfied" with just under 500 thousand euros. The State, therefore, has blatantly "wrong" the calculation of the cost of the service of "just" 25 million. The Court of Auditors will not stand by if the tender is not canceled due to an anomalous offer. Certainly Onorato's counterattack leaves a tangible mark in the future and, above all, in the past.
State gifts
The question it triggers is disruptive: why the State has given 72 million euros a year for eight years if now Onorato, one year after the expiry of that agreement, can renounce 98% of the incentives on the route from Porto Torres to Genoa? A question from a thousand and one thoughts for those who have liquidated those disproportionate figures by declaring them as indispensable compensation to cover the service costs. Onorato's non-returnable offer translates into only one way: I take that route without taking public money, while the money I pocketed in past years was a real gift from the State.
Poker on the sea
What's more, the poker player on the sea had also filed an appeal to the Lazio TAR in recent weeks to challenge the Invitalia call, except, then, to participate in the race with that stratospheric discount presented at 16.46, 14 minutes before the deadline. of the deadline set for 5 pm on 23 August. Textbook stuff. The contract, for now, is his, except for twists: for 5 years he will have to place two freight - passenger ships no older than 20 years on that route, for no less than 750 passengers, of which 450 in the cabin, one thousand linear meters of lanes for heavy vehicles and 500 cars.
From Porta Pia to Manhattan
The twists and turns on the Sardinian seas, however, are played across the board, from Porta Pia to the Court of Justice in the southern district of New York, in the heart of Manhattan. The dispute has no borders and Onorato decides to play the most delicate game to the end, that of December 13, when his creditors will have to decide with a vote whether to bring his companies straight to bankruptcy or groped to save them.
Heavy artillery
Certainly the heavy artillery is ready to take the field. The passage made on Tuesday in New York by the owner of Mascalzone Latino has an explicit objective: to immobilize, with a decision of the American Court of Justice, his main enemies, the US funds, which have an important part of that bond in their "belly". 300 million euros, the same that the markets financed him to climb Cin-Tirrenia.
New York docet
Onorato knows well that the fates of his companies will be sealed if the thumbs up from New York come from funds that hold a significant part of that credit. Many are convinced that only "bankruptcy" can lead to the certain recovery of the real value of the ships and thus repay an important part of Onorato's debt. The American move is, therefore, the latest found to keep the game open and groped to unhinge the enemy.
World lawyers
To play it Moby fielded one of the most experienced law firms in the world: Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. A firm of 875 lawyers, 27 offices, 4 continents and 10 countries, 70 billion dollars won on behalf of their clients and 86% of victories in arbitrations and judgments. An impressive legal crowd that lets you understand the weight of the game at stake. After all, the "enemy" that Onorato has chosen to oppose is not a rose and flower dealer on Fifth Avenue.
Stellar bank
Moby is suing none other than Morgan Stanley, one of the largest investment banks in the world, offices in more than 42 countries, 60,000 employees. Its clients include governments, institutions and the big financial companies. Mascalzone Latino would like to prevent the bank headquarters, in the heart of Broadway, in the Morgan Stanley Building, from somehow managing the final game, that of bailout or bankruptcy. The news of the titanic clash is Bloomerg, the largest financial media in the world, which summarizes the dispute: "Morgan Stanley and two of its major distressed credit operators have been sued by Moby SpA. The company claims to have registrations which would show how the bank and an investor were secretly trying to take control of Moby. ' The lawsuit, filed last Tuesday in New York, describes registrations made by a pool of 007s from which a secret alliance would emerge to control Onorato's company.
Intrigues & failures
The complaint is heavy. The file aims to argue that Morgan Stanley hid ownership of 10% of Moby's bonds while working with Antonello Di Meo, a former employee of Sound Point Capital Management, all to blow up Moby's restructuring plan. Onorato's goal is put in black and white: Moby is seeking an injunction from the Court to prevent the accused from buying or selling Moby's debts or assets or from interfering with their restructuring. The decision will be made on 5 October in New York. The American judges will be called to settle the international intrigue. The future of sea transport, to and from Sardinia, now even passes through Broadway and Manhattan.