Farewell to Alessandro Fedrigoni, the “captain” who made the card a signature of …
On 31 December Alessandro Fedrigoni passed away. He left at the age of 80, after a brief illness, and he did it as was his style: in a discreet, polite way, without fanfare and above all after having ensured the future and growth of the historic group four years ago. paper industry of the family and the city of Verona. Putting all the good and the growth of the company in front of everything, which in 1888 planted deep roots in the economic and social fabric of Verona: in Viale Piave 3 Fedrigoni Spa has existed since 1903, in the first industrial area of Verona.
His family of Trentino origins has linked its name to the paper industry since 1717 when a young Giuseppe Fedrigoni founded the San Colombano paper mill, at the foot of the homonymous hermitage in Vallarsa-Rovereto. The industrial turning point comes with the third generation: Gianfranco Fedrigoni makes the first acquisitions in Italy and Germany. Alessandro graduated in paper engineering in Munich and joined the company in the mid-1960s. It will be, the generation of Alessandro and Giuseppe to quarter the accelerator in terms of diversification (self-adhesive labels and paper money) and internationalization (acquisitions in Europe, Brazil and Spain): in 2004 they take over Fabriano and Alessandro decides to focus on the Self Adhesive, creating Arconvert in 1989.
Archive Fedrigoni has been in Verona since 1888. Here, in 1923, expansion works for the Fedrigoni paper mills in Viale Piave Headquarters The current headquarters of Fedrigoni, in via Enrico Fermi
In 2006, his brother Giuseppe sells the shares and Alessandro will take over the reins of the company, an industrial company that tripled its turnover from 2004 to 2014, exceeding 800 million euros and 2 thousand employees worldwide. Become a made in Italy brand. In recent years Alessandro Fedrigoni – always flanked by the historic CEO and general manager Claudio Alfonsi in the company since 1980 – tries to bring the group on the stock exchange, sometimes the listing fails.
In that period Alessandro, in addition to facing his competitors, had to deal with the roller coaster of the financial lists, with a fire that devastated the Verona plant and with the earthquake that razed Fabriano in the Marche region to the ground. Aware of what his father Gianfranco had already done after a bombing before the end of the Second World War, Alessandro has it reopened in record time. After a year, the decision was made to rebuild and revive the Fabriano plant too, despite the fact that the insurance expertise had advised against it: production had to continue with those employees and those families in that area.
The Fedrigoni paper mill, the headquarters in via Enrico Fermi
Finally, the decision to sell 90% of the shares to the US private equity fund Bain Capital. “In 130 years we have brought the company to the highest levels, now we need adequate resources”, said Alessandro Fedrigoni in commenting on the preliminary agreement signed on 22 December 2017, in April there will be the sale. At that time the turnover exceeded one billion euros and the employees were over 2,700. After almost 4 years and after other international acquisitions, in 2020 the group’s turnover reached 1,315 million euros (415 million of which Fedrigoni spa) with 4 thousand employees 21 production plants and a presence in 132 countries. But above all with the start of the listing process, scheduled for September 2022. This is the crowning achievement of Alessandro Fedrigoni’s strategy.
And this is confirmed by the current CEO of the Fedrigoni group, Marco Nespolo: “Alessandro Fedrigoni has guided the company for many years through various important phases and has taken very important strategic decisions that have contributed to largely define what the Fedrigoni Group is today. . I am sorry for his death “, he reiterates in a note,” we are all grateful to him for the great legacy he left us, and which we will continue to honor, through our daily commitment, with the aim of making Fedrigoni bigger and bigger. global”.
Alessandro Fedrigoni has not only brought the group to the highest levels but has made a fundamental contribution to the growth of Verona. He also did so by holding the role of vice president in Confindustria Verona with the delegation to the Research Department. Raffaele Boscaini, president of Confindustria Verona, remembers him as “one of the captains of industry who have contributed to the growth and development of our country with the reserve of those who think that it is only work and results that have to speak. Generous, passionate, and always available to share ideas and knowledge with everyone ii ».
On the occasion of a meeting of Confindutria Verona, Boscaini recalls, «his attention to training, aware that competence is the basis from which to start to obtain great results. We will miss his kindness and his clear eyes, but what he left in Verona and the country will always make it alive ». He leaves two daughters, Francesca and Alessia. The funeral will be held tomorrow at 9.30 in the parish church of Ronco Briantino in the province of Monza Brianza. •.
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