All economic life did not stop with the health crisis. Exor, the Agnelli family holding company, announced Monday evening an investment of 200 million dollars in the technological company Via, valued by this operation at 2.25 billion dollars. Exor becomes the shareholder at 8.87%, alongside other investors such as Shell, Itochu, Daimler or Macquarie, and takes a seat on the board of directors.
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For Exor, this investment is a first step in the data-based technology sector. Via has developed an algorithm for urban transport networks, making it possible to manage an offer of municipal buses for example according to demand and flows rather than on the basis of a fixed timetable. Objective: to decongest cities.
Via will find its place at the level of Exor NV, the holding company at the head of the family empire chaired by John Elkann, alongside the other large holdings in the main portfolio of the company, such as Ferrari, Fiat-Chrysler, or The Economist .
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The operation, negotiated for a long time, proves that "even in difficult times like this, Exor continues to build the future" , argues a close friend of the company. The subliminal message is clear: John Elkann does not intend to give up the great maneuvers he launched before the outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis. In early March, he signed a memorandum of understanding for the sale of 100% of the reinsurer Partner Re to the French insurer Covea for some 9 billion euros. At the end of 2019, he negotiated the marriage of Fiat-Chrysler with the French manufacturer PSA. An operation which is under investigation, by the competition authorities in particular, and which must be definitively completed by 2021.