General Assembly: the cards are revealed. The holding of the Benetton, which owns 4% of Leo, will vote in favor of Caltagirone list in the eagerly awaited meeting of the first Italian insurance company on Friday 29 April in Trieste. According to the indiscretions gathered, what pushed the Benetton family, which nonetheless recognizes the merits of both sides competing for the leadership of Generali and which promises to work to mend the wounds after the meeting, would be questions of principle.
The Benettons don't like that management chooses the future board
The Benettons they don't appreciate the concept of "list of the outgoing board of directors“, which is supported by Mediobanca, because they believe that to choose the top management of a company – and in this case of Generali – it should not be the management but the shareholders. And on this the Benettons are in agreement with Caltagirone and Del Vecchio, with whom there is an ancient harmony, even at the cost of disagreeing with Mediobanca, which is the strategic advisor of the Benettons in the Atlantia takeover bid.
General Assembly: high participation favors Donnet
With the votes of the Benettons, at thegeneral assembly the Caltagirone list is now accredited with a basis higher than 25% and close to 30% which would guarantee the election of 4 of the future 13 members of the new board. However, the real arbiters of Friday's meeting remain institutional funds, which have 30% of the Lion in their portfolios, in addition to 20% in the hands of retail (small savers).
But to influence the final verdict will be strong shareholder participation, which seems to be approaching 70%, against 55% at the last Generali meeting: according to analysts, the novelty should play in favor of the outgoing board, which hopes not only to win the shareholders' meeting and to confirm Philippe Donnet at the helm of Generali, but also to prevail with a difference of more than 6%, to protect itself from the disputes already announced by Caltagirone on Mediobanca's securities lending and rights of vote of De Agostini.
The game of the General meeting - which represents the greatest challenge of Italian finance for many years now - therefore remains very open and the eve is incandescent, but the countdown to know the future of the first national insurance company and of one of the few Italian groups of truly international importance has now begun. And in the late morning of tomorrow everything will be clear.
To delve into the technical details of the assembly, go on the site by Generali.
