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Generali, Donnet brings two dossiers to today's board of directors: the agreement with Natixis and the purchase of New York-based Mgg

Through Conning, the Lion acquires 77% of the American asset management company with $5 billion under management. The headaches for the agreement with the French: from the possible request for an extraordinary meeting, to the axe of the golden power

Generali, Donnet brings two dossiers to today's board of directors: the agreement with Natixis and the purchase of New York-based Mgg

On the table where the food is being prepared business plan of the Generali Group for the next three years the CEO Philippe Donnet wants to put together a puzzle of managed savings as complete and diversified as possible, in order to cover the interests of a large customer base. Already yesterday, Sunday, in front of the Investment Committee, but especially today, Monday, in front of the tbsp, will begin to submit two dossiers, the one relating to Natixis and that of the New Yorker Mgg. But according to well-informed sources, other partnerships could come with Woody Bradford, the CEO of Gih (Donnet is its president), personally involved in screening other possible prey.

But today's board meeting could be quite heated due to the discontent of Delfin and Caltagirone who do not like the agreement with the French and are threatening aextraordinary assembly. While the unknown remains of the government and the Golden Power.

Through Conning, 77% of Mgg will be acquired for 320 million

Of course, the dossier Natixis is the most consistent, as well as the most complicated, with the contribution of 1200 billion. But just this weekend a smaller file was added, the one made by controlled by Conning & Company which has signed an agreement to acquire the majority (77%) of Mgg Investment Group and its affiliates, with a vocation for the private credit, for a fee of 320 million dollars with an additional monetary commitment subject to the achievement of certain operational milestones.

Little is missing January 30, when the industrial strategy of Generali Investments Holding (Gih) will be presented, the subsidiary that supervises all the global management activities of the Lion with 840 billion euros in assets. The aim of the top management is to complete the whole range of products to offer to customers, also adding the private debts and in general the alternative assets. A strategic directive different from the big dossier Natixis, an operation that is instead complementary to Trieste in terms of the assets and the cost synergies that can be activated. The Natixis dossier arrived on Donnet's table after the banking giant Bnp Paribas got its hands on the manager Axa Investment Management for 5,1 billion euros last July.

Who is Mgg Investment Group

Founded in 2014, Mgg is a New York-based private credit investment boutique that provides tailored investment solutions to mid-market and growth companies in the United States. Since its founding, the firm has invested over $10 billion in more than 175 transactions, with a focus on non-sponsored borrowers and more complex bespoke solutions. Following the closing of the transaction, which is expected to occur in 2025, current shareholders, including Mgg management and McCourt Global, will retain a minority stake.

“MGG’s rigorous credit underwriting process, structuring approach and deep focus on middle market, non-sponsored lending complement our offering and better position us to support our clients achieve their direct lending investment goals,” said Bradford.

Once the transaction is completed, which is expected to close within the year, Mgg will continue to be led by the CEO and CIO Kevin griffin, as well as from the existing team, “with no changes in investment strategy, processes or day-to-day operations,” a note from the Italian group specifies. The estimated impact on the Solvency II ratio of the Generali group is approximately -2 percentage points.

In addition to $144 billion in assets under management, the acquisition of Conning – completed in April – has brought as a dowry to the Lion a great specialization especially in fixed income instruments for insurance and institutional clients, such as US and emerging countries sovereign bonds, frontier market bonds and real estate investment products. As a dowry he also brought the same Bradford who, in the reorganization of the group last April, added the position of CEO of Gih to that of CEO of Conning. And Bradford is still the candidate to lead the newco that would result from the agreement with Natixis.

The headaches of the agreement with the French

The scope of the agreement between Generali and Natixis it's already there, but there could be details discontent, especially from the large private shareholders who would not look favourably on the operation: starting with the group Dolphin and from the group CaltagironeThe new platform will be 50% owned by Generali Investment Holding and the remaining 50% by Natixis.

At present, it appears that the only contribution that is different from the 650 billion in assets that will be transferred to the newco is in fact the net collection that will be produced by Trieste from year to year and equal to approximately 7 billion. While the French are contributing assets of approximately 1200 billion. But those partners, according to some observers, are putting a spoke in the wheels with the request for aextraordinary meeting believing that the agreement with the French could be seen as atransformative operation which will also have an impact on thecorporate purpose. The Lion instead believes that this operation falls fully within the mandate of the directors. According to the latest updates on the group's website, Caltagirone has 6,92% and Delfin 9,93%, shares certainly sufficient to request the convening of an extraordinary meeting and which, at current prices, are worth approximately 7,7 billion euros.

The crucial thing will also be the governance of the new structure. At present, it appears that the first CEO could be Bradford for 5 years. Then the alternation would start. Unless specific objectives are achieved. In which case, the Lion could secure another five years of corporate governance.

In the background, finally, remains theunknown Government. As soon as the Generali-Natixis operation is formally notified to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Palazzo Chigi will evaluate whether there are grounds for activating the procedure golden power on the basis of the protection of Italian savings that will end up in the agreement. The investigation, in this case, will be entrusted to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, competent in matters of banking and insurance. For the case Unicredit - Banco Bpm Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti last week ruled out the possibility that the government was working on a bill to strengthen special powers.

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