Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, a leading investor in Generali, wants Italy’s top insurer to grow into a big multinational “with Italian sovereignty,” the business tycoon was quoted as saying on Friday.
Generali is facing a power struggle over its board composition at a shareholder vote next month.
When asked whether change was also needed at the insurer’s top shareholder Mediobanca, Caltagirone told daily Il Sole 24 Ore he was focused only on Generali.
Caltagirone, together with entrepreneur Leonardo Del Vecchio, Generali’s third biggest investor, are opposing the reappointment of the insurer’s current chief executive Philippe Donnet as they challenge the influence of Mediobanca.
Generali Suspends CEO Donnet’s Internal Rival in Ongoing Power Struggle
The outgoing board has put forward Donnet for a third term as CEO and nominated Andrea Sironi, a leading international expert in governance and risk management who has served as dean of Milan’s Bocconi University, as new chairman. Those nominees are backed by Mediobanca.
Caltagirone has submitted his own slate of nominees proposing Generali’s head of Austria and CEE countries, Luciano Cirina as CEO and Claudio Costamagna, a former Goldman Sachs banker and former chairman of Italian state investor CDP, as chairman.
Cirina and Costamagna plan to hold a news conference later on Friday.
In the interview, Caltagirone said that Cirina and Costagnamagna are complementary and will present a strategy for the insurer, not yet a detailed business plan.
(Reporting by Claudia Cristoferi and Stefano Bernabei, writing by Maria Pia Quaglia, editing by Agnieszka Flak)
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