(Bloomberg) -- Italy's Benetton family is evaluating a shake-up at its Atlantia SpA infrastructure unit in the wake of new arrests related to a fatal bridge collapse in Genoa last year, people familiar with the situation said.
The board of directors at the billionaire family's Edizione Srl holding will meet Monday afternoon in the northern city of Treviso to discuss what actions to take, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the matter is private.
The board is expected to discuss the future of Atlantia Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Castellucci, including possibly replacing him, the people said.
“The possible replacement of the CEO could introduce a further element of uncertainty and therefore of risk on Atlantia,” Marco Opipari, an analyst at Fidentiis, wrote in a note to clients on Monday.
A spokesman for Edizione, which controls Atlantia, said the Monday meeting had already been scheduled. He declined to comment on the agenda.
Shares in Rome-based Atlantia fell 6% at 10:32 a.m. in Milan on Monday, after losing 8% on Friday, when the arrests were announced.
Under fire from both investigators and some lawmakers, Edizione said it's ready to take action to protect its reputation following the new arrests and searches by finance police in Genoa.
Edizione “will not hesitate to take all proper and necessary action to protect the credibility and reputation of its controlled companies and its shareholders,” according to a statement Saturday.
That defense came in the wake of stepped-up investigations into Atlantia's highway network after the August 2018 collapse of the Morandi bridge, on a stretch of road managed by the company's Autostrade per l'Italia SpA unit. Forty three people died in the accident.
Five Star
Politicians have also fanned the flames. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement, part of the ruling coalition, renewed calls over the weekend for Atlantia's concessions to be revoked.
Castellucci, 60, took over as CEO in 2006 and transformed the company into the world's biggest toll-road operator, spearheading the acquisition of Spanish rival Abertis SA last year. The CEO, himself under investigation in the Genoa case, was reconfirmed in April.
Edizione founder Gilberto Benetton asked Castellucci to stay in his job and help manage the aftermath of the 2018 tragedy, according to people familiar with the situation. Gilberto Benetton died a few months later.
Italy's finance police Friday took measures against nine “managers and technicians” on suspicion of making false statements about maintenance work on other roads managed by Atlantia units. Three of the people were placed under house arrest.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tommaso Ebhardt in Milan at tebhardt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Jerrold Colten, Tara Patel
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