Background The company was created in 2006 by
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo,
Diego Della Valle, Gianni Punzo and Francesco Sciarrone to compete on Italian high-speed rail operator given the liberalization of the railway sector in the
European Union. The company was launched with an initial investment of €967 million, €625 million of which was spent on rolling stock. NTV's shareholders took on significant risk in their startup as Italy was the first country in the world to open its high-speed rail market to competition. In January 2008 NTV changed its corporate structure with the entry of
Intesa Sanpaolo, followed in October of the same year by the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (
SNCF); in the same year the railway company ordered to
Alstom the construction of twenty-five trains of the Automotrice à grande vitesse (
AGV) type, which were built in the plants of
La Rochelle and
Savigliano. In early 2010, NTV stated its intention to start services in late 2011, following the certification of its trains in mid-2011. In March 2011, the company publicly complained that the Italian rail infrastructure manager,
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), was obstructing its plans to run trains by making last-minute changes to network statements, as well as questioning the legality of its access charges. RFI is controlled by the same government group that controls
Trenitalia, the incumbent provider of passenger train services in Italy. Later that year, it was reported that the launch date had been delayed into 2012; this was reportedly due to the project's complexity. According to industry consultant Andrea Giuricin, NTV found it difficult to obtain technical approval and safety licences to operate its new fleet of
Alstom-built
Automotrice à grande vitesse (AGV) trains; Giuricin also acknowledged the establishment process as being quite complex in general. This branding has been applied to other services provided by the company, such as its
loyalty card. According to rail periodical Railway Gazette, NTV was initially challenged to achieve a viable return on investment until passenger numbers increased. In October 2012 there was a change of leadership: Montezemolo left the office of president while remaining a shareholder of the company, while Vincenzo Cannatelli resigned as vice president, remaining within the board of directors. The presidency was succeeded by Antonello Perricone, who since 2 October 2013, is also CEO, following the resignation of Giuseppe Sciarrone. During 2015, NTV then-CEO Flavio Cattaneo launched a strategic turnaround initiative, aimed at improving its operations. To expand accessibility to its services, NTV has coordinated with bus operators to expand its catchment area to cover towns not directly served by high-speed rail. In January 2018, it was announced 35-40% of NTV's shares would be listed on the
Borsa Italiana. However, in February 2018, the planned
initial public offering was cancelled; instead, NTV's shareholders accepted the take-over offer from
Global Infrastructure Partners for 100% of the company, which was then valued at €1.94 billion. Dealing April 2018, the sale was finalised; several of the existing shareholders chose to participate in a capital increase for a joint shareholding of 7.74%. That same year, the company was renamed
Italo-NTV, which integrated the
.italo brand present on its rolling stock. ==Rolling stock==