Paolo scaroni he is the new president of Enel. Flavio Cattaneo the new CEO. This was decided by the Enel assembly which was held in Rome at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. 65% of the capital is present. The 6 candidates from the Ministry of the Economy and the 3 candidates from Assogestioni enter the Board of Directors. No councilor for the Covalis list which had presented itself in opposition to the Mef and Assogestioni lists, nominating Marco Mazzucchelli for president.
Thus, at 16:30 on Wednesday afternoon, the most awaited part of the Enel meeting convened for the renewal of the board of directors and the approval of the 2022 financial statements, the dividend and the share buyback up to 2 billion ended. The era of Francesco Starace ends after 9 years, the CEO who led the group towards the energy transition with a decisive hand and transformed it into an energy multinational leader in renewables.
Enel Assembly: Paolo Scaroni president, Flavio Cattaneo CEO Giorgetti: "It's not the season for owls"
After the bitter controversies by some Funds on the nominations presented by the government, accused of lack of transparency, the Mef (which controls 23% of the share capital) won across the board in the assembly. The 6 MEF candidates were elected with a large majority (49,1%). The new directors are Fiammetta Salmoni, Flavio Cattaneo, Paolo scaroni appointed chairman with an absolute majority of 97,2% of the voting capital, Johanna Arbib, Alessandro Zehentner, Olga Cuccurullo. Assogestioni, which was outraged in favor of Paolo Scaroni as president, managed to get its list approved with 43,49% and obtained three directors: Dario Frigerio, Alessandra Stabilini and Mario Corsi. The Covalis Fund which had presented itself in opposition to the other two lists, remained outside the Board of Directors but still obtained 6,9% of the votes, partly subtracted from the Assogestioni list.
“Covalis is a global investment firm with a focus on energy transition. By its nature, it is not an activist fund but a long-standing one, as evidenced by the ten-year presence in Enel, one of our strategic assets” said list representative Fabrizio Arossa. “We thank the outgoing top management and all the employees for the work done. We have presented a list of independent directors not against but for, to open a debate on the best governance to achieve goals. We need an independent board of directors led by an independent president who looks to the future with a focus on transition,” Covalis urged before the vote.
Satisfied the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti: "It's not the season for owls, we have achieved an excellent result".
Greetings from Francesco Starace: "They have been years of success, Enel is solid and appreciated"
"In the last three years we have achieved good results" and Enel's strategy "is solid and appreciated by the market".
Francesco Starace, outgoing managing director of Enel, at his last meeting at the helm of the electricity group, is keen to underline how, from the presentation of the 2023-2025 Strategic Plan, last November, “the stock appreciated by 21,3% against a +9,1% in the EuroStoxx of utilities. This ensured a total shareholder return of 25,8% against 11,5%. Starace retraced the changes and successes achieved at the helm of the group. “With ours integrated business model – he said – Enel managed to absorb the shocks of 2022 and confirmed its leadership in the world”. In particular, you observed, "even in times of extraordinary volatility we have guaranteed affordable prices to our customers and the investments made on the networks in digitization and efficiency are creating the networks of tomorrow". The conclusion: “Enel is global leader as an operator in the renewables sector with approximately 59 GW of renewable capacity, it is the main grid operator with approximately 73 million users and the largest electricity distribution company globally with approximately 67 million customersyou".
Francesco Starace concluded his speech at the Enel shareholders' meeting, the last of his mandate, by thanking “all the colleagues I've had in these 9 years who have been wonderful for the results but above all for how we got there, very united. I am leaving after three terms as CEO and from the company where I worked for 23 years and which has given me and taught me a lot. Years lived with great satisfaction”. The outgoing CEO concluded with best wishes to the new board of directors and was greeted by a long round of applause.
At the meeting, explained the chairman Michele Crisostomo at the opening of the meeting, 65% of the share capital was represented, with 34 heads representing 3.600 shareholders. Shareholders above 3% are the Ministry of the Economy with 23,585% and BlackRock with 5,023%.
Enel Shareholders' Meeting: dividend budget approved
Enel's shareholders' meeting, with 99,595% of voting shareholders, gave the green light to the 2022 financial statements and with 98,9% to the total dividend of 0,40 euros (of which 0,20 euros to be paid on July 26 with detachment on 24 July). The authorization to buy back treasury shares for a maximum of 98,49 billion was also voted with 2%.
