Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV) chooses SNCF as reference industrial partner

October, 9 2008 - NTV chooses SNCF as reference industrial partner. In this framework, NTV and SNCF announced today the acquisition by the French railway operator of a 20% stake in the share capital of the first European private operator in the sphere of high-speed railway passenger transport in Italy.

Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), first Italian private company operating passenger transportation service on high-speed railway lines, has chosen Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF), as its sole industrial partner in Italy and in Europe.
The boards of directors of NTV and SNCF have approved a partnership agreement on the basis of which, SNCF will purchase a 20% minority stake of NTV. The partnership agreement was submitted by NTV to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, which has confirmed that it is in accordance with national laws.

NTV was founded in 2006 by Luca di Montezemolo (Chairman of Fiat and Ferrari), Diego Della Valle (founder of Tod’s), Gianni Punzo (General Manager of Interporto di Nola, a logistics center), and Giuseppe Sciarrone (formerly Head of passenger services at Ferrovie dello Stato and Chief Executive Officer of NTV) and later in conjunction with IntesaSanpaolo, Generali Financial Holdings and the entrepreneur Alberto Bombassei. The partnership with SNCF completes the capital structure of the company. NTV will be largely owned and exclusively controlled by companies created and operating in Italy.

NTV will launch its railway services in 2011. Thanks to innovative services, NTV intends to carry 10 million passengers per year by 2015, focusing on high-speed lines between large Italian cities (Turin-Milan-Bologna-Florence-Rome-Naples-Salerno, Rome-Bari and Rome-Florence-Bologna-Venice), and to capture around 20% of the Italian high-speed market. NTV will operate a fleet of 25 new ultra high-speed trains ordered from French manufacturer Alstom: the AGVs. NTV’s ambitions are not limited to the Italian market but also cover the whole European market which will be more and more characterized by a strong expansion of the high-speed railway services.

SNCF was the first European railway operator to develop high-speed passenger transportation services with strong customer satisfaction records and many innovations over the last years. It has the most comprehensive experience in this sector: since the launch of the first TGV in 1981, more than 1.5 billion passengers have travelled on its trains, with a load factor today above 75%.

On the basis of the partnership agreement, NTV could utilize the know-how of SNCF, so as to guarantee the highest quality of service. The French company thus becomes a long term partner and the unique industrial shareholder for NTV. This allows the possibility of commercial collaborations, in particular in distribution services (booking, sales, ticketing). NTV and SNCF could also therefore study collaboration in the international passenger transportation sector.

Mr. Luca di Montezemolo, Chairman of NTV, commented:
“This important partnership with the world main high-speed service operator allows NTV to benefit from the great experience of SNCF, particularly in the commercial sector. In addition, the agreement gives NTV the opportunity to become a player in the European market, which will be completely liberalized for international services from January 2010. Nevertheless, NTV will remain essentially Italian.”

Tutto ciò mantenendo la piena italianità della società.”

Mr. Guillaume Pepy, Chairman of SNCF, commented:
“By choosing SNCF as its industrial partner, NTV has recognized that we could bring them the best of the existing know-how and expertise in the field of high-speed rail. Such a partnership which involves the acquisition of a stake in a new operator is really innovative at the dawn of the liberalization of the international passenger rail market.”

Appendix

Following the entrance of SNCF into NTV’s share capital, NTV’s equity (263.600.000,00) will be structured as follows:

NTV Partners	Shares	Shareholders
Totale MDP Holding	38,4%	D. Della Valle - L. di Montezemolo- G. Punzo
IMI Investimenti Spa	20,0%	IntesaSanpaolo
VFE-P SA	20,0%	SNCF
Generali Financial Holdings FCP - FIS	15,0%
Nuova Fourb	5,0%	A. Bombassei
RESET 2000	1,6%	G. Sciarrone
Totale	100,00%