Fiat and the relaunching of Alfa Romeo – Doubled profits by 2018, partly thanks to the huge investment in the Alfa Romeo branch, which is going global. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) presented its ambitious industrial plan, with the goal of increasing production by 2 million vehicles (May 6 and 7 in the Financial Times –Fiat Chrysler plans 2m lift in car sales by 2018*; Washington Post –Fiat Chrysler reveals plans to grow sales by 2018; Bloomberg – Fiat Targets Doubling Profit by 2018 With Push for Upscale Cars). The Alfa Romeo premium brand is at the center of the group’s strategy, with an eye on competitors Audi and BMW, thanks to the 5 bn investment (May 5 and 6 in the Financial Times – Fiat Chrysler plans Alfa Romeo drive*; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – Fiat päppelt Alfa mit Milliarden-Investitonen; Bloomberg – Fiat Said to Start Alfa Romeo Model Expansion With Own Funding; Valor Economico – Fiat vai relançar marca Alfa Romeo de olho no mercado da Audi e BMW*).
Privatization and new yields: market reaction – However, Fiat is not the only company in the economic pages of the foreign press. There is also a great deal of attention in the recovery of the Italian financial market, partly because Italian bonds are showing record lows (from May 1 to 6 on Bloomberg Businessweek – Italy Says Overhauls Helping Bond Yields to Fall; Financial Times – Italy’s borrowing costs fall as investors bet on ECB buying debt*; Bloomberg – Italian Bond Rally Pushes 10-Year Yield Below 3% for First Time), but also because of the new public and private companies listed on the stock market for the first time. That is the case of Fincantieri, on the verge of privatization (Financial Times, May 5 – Italy set to launch privatisation drive with Fincantieri listing*), and Gruppo Statuto (Financial Times, May 4 – Gruppo Statuto prepares to list hotel arm*), owner of hotels such as the Four Seasons of Milna, or the Danieli of Venice. And, as the Financial Times points out, the real estate market continues to boom in the lagoon city (May 2 – Venice’s housing market regains its appeal among local buyers*). Finally, the foreign press wrote about the Italian companies interested in internationalization. Valor Economico reported on the strategies of Diadora (Geox), which is planning to set up its first extra-European market in Brazil (May 2 – País deve liderar venda da Diadora fora da Europa*).
Tourism and culture – There were also articles about cultural topics last week. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung interviewed Toni Servillo (May 3 – Viele Italiener identifizieren sich mit den Barbaren), while El Pais suggested a video journey through Italian cinema, as always a synonym for quality, intelligence and beauty (May 2 – Un paseo por el cine italiano), showing the most enchanting images and colors of a Venice that still belongs to Titian and Tintoretto (May 6 – Del ‘rojo tiziano’ a la ‘bottega’ de Tintoretto). El Mundo wrote about the new exhibit dedicated to the works of Alberto Giacometti, the artist who Jean Paul Sartre defined as the perfect existential artist (May 5 – En busca de Giacometti) and told how different paintings by Italian artists of the 16th and 17th centuries are on loan by the Prado of Milan to the Victoria National Gallery of Melbourne for the exhibit “Italian Masterpieces at the Court of Spain” (May 2 – La pintura italiana del Prado viaja a Australia). And while the Daily Beast visited the catacombs of Palermo (May 2 – Palermo Has an Underground City Filled With Its Mummified Dead), the Financial Times wrote about a backstage visit to the Giro d’Italia (May 2 – Giro d’Italia tours, Doha’s new airport and off-road driving). Finally, The Times, traveled down the Appenines along the ancient salt road (May 3 – Take Italy’s old salt road*), and the New York Times Magazine went to Turin to celebrate the reopening of the restaurant Del Cambio, one of the world’s oldest.
* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration