Generali, Cirinà and the Caltagirone list of discord
Assicurazioni Generali: what is happening after the officialization of the Caltagirone anti Donnet / Mediobanca list. Facts, names and rumors
It is not a peaceful eve for Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone (first private shareholder of Generali with 8.5%) who on March 25 presents the list in his image and likeness for the renewal of the board of Assicurazioni Generali.
Objective: to overturn the plan of the strong shareholder of Leone, that is Mediobanca, to confirm the number one of the insurance group Philippe Donnet.
The idea of indicating the top manager of Generali, Luciano Cirinà, as an alternative to Donnet aroused quite a few perplexities among observers and among the other shareholders of Generali, as well as provoking a reaction from the Trieste giant, which also considered the dismissal of Cirinà.
"Suspended with immediate effect": this was Generali's reaction to the candidacy for CEO in the Caltagirone list of Luciano Cirinà, head of the group's Central-Eastern Europe ( for this pampered at the pro-Russian Eurasian Forum ) and one of the top six manager reporting directly to the chief executive officer Donnet, who instead aims for reconfirmation.
“In short, one of the top executives of the group challenges the head of the company, with whom he collaborated until yesterday also in the preparation and then in the presentation of the industrial plan announced last December”, Corriere della Sera noted today.
In announcing the suspension of the "regional officer" and the interim to the CEO of Generali Deutschland Giovanni Liverani, Generali specified that "all statutory or contractual obligations remain valid", including the confidentiality of "confidential" data and "adherence to all internal rules and policies, including those that regulate relations with the media, financial analysts, rating agencies, investors and authorities ". A legal challenge that is shaking the top management of the insurance giant.
“In any case, this is only the latest episode of a battle that pits Caltagirone against the board of directors of Generali and Mediobanca for the renewal of the board. Renewal that will be decided by the shareholders' meeting on 29 April and for which the board has nominated Philippe Donnet as CEO and Andrea Sironi as president ”, commented Il Sole 24 Ore .
To understand – added the economic-financial daily – how Cirinà and above all the Caltagirone group will respond, who have organized the presentation of their strategic program to analysts and the press for tomorrow. In addition to Cirinà, Claudio Costamagna is also expected to conduct the work, indicated by the Roman businessman as president of the Lion.
But questions and perplexities persist about Costamagna in circles of the Turin Crt foundation ( here facts and indiscretions in an article by Start Magazine ). As well as for the role of CEO candidate – according to rumors of Dagospia – the other private anti Mediobanca shareholder, namely Leonardo Del Vecchio, preferred Sergio Balbinot to Cirinà's place. But in the end the choice of Caltagirone prevailed: it is no coincidence that the list was renamed the "Caltagirone list" and not the Caltagirone-Del Vecchio-Crt list.
For all these elements – from the internal turmoil in CRT due to the unusual activism of the foundation to the de facto absence of Del Vecchio's hand in the anti Donnet / Mediobanca list – on the market and among observers, one wonders: how solid is the axis between Caltagirone, Del Vecchio and Crt?
The facts will answer the question.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/generali-cirina-caltagirone/ on Thu, 24 Mar 2022 07:44:12 +0000.