Another chapter in the Sator-Palladio Unipol fight. Matteo Arpe and Roberto Meneguzzo don't give up. A complaint was presented to the Antitrust on Thursday denouncing the integration plan between Premafin, Milan, Fonsai and Unipol, which, they claim, would have violated competition rules. This is the last act of the battle waged with Carlo Cimbri, CEO of Unipol, for control of Fonsai, the Ligresti family's insurance company.
Change of strategy. It is therefore a change of tactics, after a meeting of Fonsai, held last March 19, effectively rejected their plan to rescue the group, approving with the favorable vote of 84% of voters and abstention of 15,4% (including 8% held by Palladio and Sator) the Unipol plan.
The two offers. Unipol. The first battle took place in the assembly, with two offers compared. Unipol has advanced it which envisaged a capital increase of 11 billion for Fondiaria-Sai (necessary to save the company) and a recapitalization of Unipol equal to 600 billion, from which Fonsai would also have benefited after the merger. Total, an operation worth 1,7 billion.
Palladium-Tent. Palladio and Sator responded with a plan that envisaged the merger of the subsidiary Milano Assicurazioni into the flagship company, Fonsai, and the sale of some subsidiaries in the healthcare real estate sector. An operation which, they are still convinced, would have allowed the company to reorganize itself and return by 2015 to a net profit of 420 million.
Financial Times: an Italian interweaving of powers. A solution that also received the endorsement of the Financial Times, which spoke of a more linear and advantageous offer for investors, as well as being desirable for the purpose of competition. The City newspaper opposes the merger between Fonsai and Unipol. In a column dated 21 March, he described the Unipol-Fonsai merger project as a classic example of Italian-style intertwining of power between bankers and managers.
The role of Mediobanca and Generali. And there is some truth to it. Because behind the merger project between Unipol and Fonsai there is the hand of Mediobanca, led by his to Alberto Nagel, creditor of both the Cimbri group and that of the Ligresti family. Nagel's willingness to seek the solution that best safeguards Mediobanca's interests is undeniable, but the interweaving of seats and powers that also directly affects Assicurazioni Generali, the leading Italian insurance group, of which Nagel is vice president, remains in the background. from Piazza Cuccia with 13% of the capital.
