This week the possible tripping of Palladio to Mediobanca in the Unipol-Fonsai transaction is taking center stage in Piazza Affari and not only. With its blitz the company led by Marco Drago and Roberto Meneguzzo, who communicated last week the purchase of 2,2558% of the share capital of Fonsai, pushes the insurance company's stock this morning towards a spectacular new rise on the Stock Exchange (+12% one hour after the start of trading).
Alberto Nagel, CEO of Mediobanca, and Fabrizio Palenzona, deputy in Piazzetta Cuccia and in Unicredit, did not take the meddling well. Indeed, their companies have filtered into the newspapers "obvious irritation" for the novelty. An attitude that, in tone and content, explains more than a thousand books or conferences the blocked nature of our capitalism. “Here power matters more than money if you have it, then you make the money”, Salvatore Bragantini wrote this morning in the Corriere della Sera in a comment, actually a bit hidden, which balances out the publication's pro Mediobanca interventions. Bragantini asks himself again: “What is Palladio's fault? She won't be the one to complicate the Antitrust issue: if she has one foot in Generali, Mediobanca is all in it”. In fact, the Vicenza-based company is a partner of the Crt Foundation (number one shareholder of Unicredit), the box in which approximately 4% of Generali is parked.
It's easy to predict that Fonsai's rudeness will also have consequences in the balance of the Trieste company. But what role can Palladio actually play? For the Triveneto merchant bank, which has approximately 200 million in cash, it is not at all impossible to build a prominent position in the company which capitalizes on only 440 million euros. Furthermore, Palladio, which has invested just over 2,25 million to acquire the 9% stake, could mobilize other investors around the project, including the Sator fund, Clessidra and 21 Investimenti.
