The eyes of Piazza Affari are focused on Generali on the day of the Board of Directors. In theory, the directors, who have already met since the early afternoon, should only deal with ordinary administration, leaving the hot topic, i.e. the advances of Intesa Sanpaolo and the defense strategies against any hostile actions, for another moment.
In reality, however, the rumors continue relating to the hypotheses that the insurance giant would be examining for the purpose of prevent any attempt to climb. And on the Stock Exchange, the stock pays for uncertainty, losing 1,5%.
There would be three, one different from the other, the paths that the top management of the Lion are currently analyzing, evaluating the pros and cons of each single option. But the goal is always the same: complicate the life of Intesa Sanpaolo as much as possible making any climbs more difficult, if not impossible.
The first hypothesis concerns a possible merger between Generali and Banca Mediolanum, which would increase the critical mass by significantly increasing costs and decreasing the chances of making it for the bank led by Carlo Messina.
Second hypothesis provides a possible takeover by Generali of the English RSA (Royal Sun Alliance), a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The operation could cost up to 8 billion euros, a figure that Leone could afford, but which however would go against the directives followed up to now by Donnet, according to which Generali should have concentrated its activity on certain areas of interest strategic, setting aside its presence in smaller ones.
The last hypothesis under consideration, the simplest to implement but perhaps not the most effective, regards the possibility of buy back up to 3 billion euro.
On the other hand, nothing new from the Intesa Sanpaolo front. The president of the institute, Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, leaving the ABI headquarters at the end of the meeting of the executive committee of the association, confirmed that for the bank there is no deadline within which to decide what to do. To journalists who pointed out that the market could not be left in uncertainty for long, Gros-Pietro replied that "there is no uncertainty because there is no operation". At the moment.
