Invader from Italy

Two years ago, standing hip-deep in the swollen waters of an Irish river, a pair of ardent fishermen uncharacteristically sandwiched a bit of business talk in between their casts. Their catch: three salmon and an idea that seems likely to result in the biggest Italian economic invasion of Britain since the days of the Lombard bankers.

One of the fishermen was Enrico Mattei, 55, lean, restless boss of E.N.I., Italy's state-owned oil and gas monopoly. A rapidly growing power in international business, Mattei has outraged the major oil companies by flooding their European markets with his own gasoline (much of it made from Russian crude) and by moving into the Middle East and Asia with drilling bids so generous that they have all but made a dead letter of the traditional fifty-fifty profits split between the oil companies and the nations in which they operate.

Mattei's companion on the river was Charles Forte, 53, an Italian-born British citizen whose creation of a vast snack bar chain has made him one of the few Horatio Algers in Britain's welfare state. Last week, thanks to his angling with Mattei, Forte had a new job: the chairmanship of A.G.I.P. (Great Britain) Ltd., a new E.N.I. marketing subsidiary to which Mattei has given $8,400,000 and orders to build a chain of 70 super service stations in Britain.

Multiple Motives. As he usually does, Mattei had multiple motives for embarking on his British venture. After Americans, British motorists buy more gasoline (an estimated $1.4 billion worth this year) than any other drivers in the world, and they are increasing their gas buying by about 8% a year. Now, with Britain anxious to join the Common Market, Mattei is virtually guaranteed a fair crack at this lucrative prize.

A successful invasion of Britain, however, would also further Mattei's tireless fight to revenge himself on the big oil companies for freezing him out of the international consortium set up seven years ago to refine and market Iranian oil. British oil companies currently sell about 25% of the gasoline used in Italy; Mattei slyly implies that he would be satisfied with the same percentage of the British market, 83% of which has been held up to now by British Esso and Shell-Mex & B.P. Ltd.

In fact, as Mattei knows, his first batch of 70 stations cannot hope to make much dent in a nation that already boasts 36,000 gas stations. But Mattei clearly hopes to expand his British chain rapidly by using the same tactics that he has employed so successfully in Italy, Switzerland, Austria and West Germany; unlike most British stations, the A.G.I.P. stations will offer American-style service (including clean toilets) plus the added attraction of snack bars.

Up from Porkies. It was the snack bars that attracted Forte (pronounced Four-tay) to the venture. An engaging little (5 ft. 5 in.) man who speaks both English and Italian with a Scottish burr, Forte came to Scotland from Italy as a child, served a nine-year apprenticeship in his Uncle Dominic's ice cream parlor before opening his own milk bar in London. Once he had learned to serve 16 snack meals a minute and to live on borrowed money ("A million pounds in the bank is not worth as much as a good credit rating"), he began a whirlwind expansion. Today the ruler of an empire that includes 146 snack bars, 15 quality restaurants and an ice cream factory, Forte eats most of his own lunches in his elegantly appointed Cafe Royal off Piccadilly Circus and likes to argue that British cuisine can be as good as any in the world. But he is realistically aware that most Britons do not share his tastes, continues to rake in most of his profits from porkies (pork hot dogs) and beefies (hamburgers that are 70% beef, 30% bread).

For the record, Forte is careful to insist that the snack concession in A.G.I.P. gas stations will be open to all caterers who care to bid. But knowing Enrico Mattei's notorious addiction to the simple ethic of punishing his enemies and rewarding his friends, British businessmen took it for granted that Forte's milk bars would expand hand in hand with A.G.I.P. Ltd.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.