Billionaire Generali investor weighs candidates for CEO challenge
(Reuters) — One of Generali’s biggest investors is considering challenging the reappointment of longstanding CEO Philippe Donnet in May and is weighing potential alternative candidates to lead Italy’s biggest insurer, four sources close to the matter said.
Three years ago Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, an Italian construction and publishing billionaire with a 6.9% stake in Generali, led a failed attempt to replace Mr. Donnet, who had backing from the insurer’s board and its biggest shareholder, Mediobanca.
Mr. Caltagirone, as well as the late billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio, has said Mr. Donnet, at the helm of the insurer since 2016, has failed to grow Generali sufficiently.
More recently the two investors expressed reservations about a proposed asset management joint venture Generali and France’s BPCE over concerns about the influence the French side could have in the partnership.
Mr. Caltagirone has not yet decided on his strategy for a shareholder vote on May 8 to elect a new Generali board and could still opt not to nominate a new CEO candidate, one of the four sources said.
But he is considering proposing alternative candidates including current Enel CEO Flavio Cattaneo, who in 2022 was appointed as a Generali director among Mr. Caltagirone’s representatives, three of the sources told Reuters.
Mr. Cattaneo is expected to be put forward again by Mr. Caltagirone as a director. However, proposing him as a candidate for CEO would be more problematic given his current role.
A spokesperson for Enel said his current mandate at Enel does not expire until 2026, “therefore the Enel CEO is not free to assume other roles.”
“This rumor is totally groundless as well as destabilizing, also taking into account that Enel is a listed company,” the Enel spokesperson said.
There are similar issues with two other candidates who are under the attention of Mr. Caltagirone, the sources said.
Mr. Caltagirone has good relations with national postal service Poste Italiane CEO Matteo Del Fante and Rome utility Acea boss Fabrizio Palermo, the sources said, adding he is considering either as a replacement for Mr. Donnet.
Representatives for Poste, Acea and Mr. Caltagirone all declined to comment.
Mr. Donnet has said he is ready to stay on for another term, but, unlike the last time around, he is not being put forward by Generali’s board after Italy’s government changed corporate rules on succession making it harder for an outgoing board to nominate candidates.
The uncertainty over Generali’s leadership comes as top shareholder Mediobanca faces a hostile takeover bid by Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a state-backed bank in which Mr. Caltagirone has built a stake since November.
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