How the Caltagirone-Del Vecchio and Nagel-Donnet couples will be scanned (Mediobanca ready to negotiate …)
All the tensions between the shareholders and managers of Assicurazioni Generali. Donnet's future hangs in the balance
Skin tensions between Assicurazioni Generali shareholders.
In fact, work continues on the renewal of Generali's board of directors and the governance of the group, whose board meets on 14 September for an informal meeting. At the center of the discussion between directors is the new presentation of the bylaws, which will contain a list of the Board.
But on the agenda of the board, in fact, there is the future of the group ceo, Philippe Donnet, who has given availability for a new mandate, the third, but which is in the sights of two of the main shareholders of the insurance company, the vice president Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, and the patron of Luxottica, Leonardo Del Vecchio.
The two entrepreneurs, last weekend , announced consultation on their current (approximately 11%) and future shares, ahead of the spring 2022 meeting to elect the board of directors. Del Vecchio and Caltagirone, Equita recalled in a report yesterday, believe that Generali must grow by external lines to shorten the distance compared to rivals such as Axa, Allianz and Zurich, and that a managerial discontinuity is necessary to make a dimensional leap, to compete for a dimensional growth too slow.
"If the scenario were to materialize with the presentation of 3 distinct lists (an expression of the board with the confirmation of Donnet," private shareholders "and Assogestioni), the institutional investors (who account for more than 40% of the capital) have a decisive role ".
Del Vecchio and Caltagirone are opposed to Donnet's reconfirmation and will ask for discontinuity. This is the meaning of the consultation pact to which the two entrepreneurs have bound 10% of Generali's capital (Mediobanca has 13%). At the moment they would count on 5 out of 13 votes in the board.
The agreement is open to third parties, as long as it does not exceed the takeover bid threshold, as stated in the text of the agreement. The Crt Foundation will probably contribute its 1.3% to the pact and Benetton could also give its 4% or go in support, but both have no representatives on the council, where the real game is played on the list (or the lists, in case of dissent of the pact), wrote the Corriere della Sera .
Faced with the market, the French manager builds on the results obtained: not only does he believe he has completed two strategic plans, in harmony with the guidelines approved by the entire board of directors, but is also ready to highlight the results obtained.
Since its appointment last week, Generali has had a total return for shareholders of 103%, higher than that of other insurance companies (the second is Zurich, with 99%), while the stock has risen by 57% compared to 20 % of Stoxx 600 Insurance, recalls the Agi agency.
"The board of directors will have to decide whether or not to renew Philippe Donnet as ad in the coming months, bearing in mind that he is called to present the new strategic plan on December 15", underlines a report by Oddo.
"Under the leadership of Donnet Generali has achieved good results and carried out various external growth operations", which underline how, despite the crisis linked to the pandemic, the Lion is on track to reach even those pre-2021. "A renewal of Donnet would be good news for the group and it remains our most likely scenario ”, explains Oddo, according to whom a constitution of the French manager“ would be unjustified and logically perceived badly by investors ”.
"The market, which yesterday began to express itself on the possible change of strategy, for the moment seems favorable to continuity (the reports released yesterday by Exane, Kepler, Jp Morgan, Equita go in this direction)", wrote Corriere della Evening .
A compromise between Piazzetta Cuccia and the Del Vecchio-Caltagirone duo, which after the recent purchases account for almost 25% of the capital of the investment bank, could – according to Kepler analysts – “facilitate a possible merger between Mediobanca and Banca Generali, which would represent a transformative operation ”for the Milanese institute,“ strengthening its position in managed savings and leading to an overall revaluation of its shares ”.
And Mediobanca would in fact already be ready to enter into negotiations for the post Donnet, as also wished in fact by an editorial in the Sole 24 Ore .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/come-si-scanneranno-le-coppie-caltagirone-del-vecchio-e-nagel-donnet/ on Tue, 14 Sep 2021 10:40:33 +0000.