Generali, a surprise move by Caltagirone. It does not bring the shares to the meeting
Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone would have decided not to deposit the securities of his company at the Generali meeting to be held tomorrow via videoconference in Trieste. If confirmed, the news given by Repubblica would be sensational. Since he is the second shareholder with a stake of more than 5%, he is also the deputy vice president of the company. A slap in the face of the management of Generali and Mediobanca, the relative majority shareholder of Leone. The tear, barring last-minute surprises, (the shares can be deposited until before the shareholders’ meeting), will see Caltagirone as shareholder not vote for the approval of the 2020 financial statements which he himself, as a director, has instead approved on the board. If it is not an explicit distrust of the work of the managing director Philippe Donnet, whom Caltagirone has been aiming to change for some time, it is very similar to him.
The tension between the large shareholders of Generali (Mediobanca with 13%, Caltagirone with 5.63% and Del Vecchio with just under 5%) has begun to rise since 2019, after the entry of Luxottica’s owner in the capital. of Mediobanca with the authorization to reach up to 20% (and in Mediobanca recently Caltagirone also appeared with 1%), but it turned into a clash last year. Mr Luxottica explained – continues Repubblica – that “everyone goes their own way independently” and that “as long as there are results, the management has nothing to fear”. And the results, in Generali, are there. The objectives of the industrial plan to 2021 will be achieved despite Covid and since Donnet has arrived the shareholders (Caltagirone excluded, apparently) have been kept good even by distributing generous dividends. From 2017 to the end of this year, 7 billion coupons will have been paid; if the 2021 plan is respected, another 1.6 billion will arrive.