First he harshly attacked the Leone's top manager in the Corriere della Sera, accusing them of being financiers rather than insurers and blatantly demanding the resignation of CEO Giovanni Perissinotto and then he had second thoughts and voted in favor of all the proposals presented by the top management of the Trieste company. The surprising own goal by an icon of Italian entrepreneurship like Leonardo Del Vecchio was perhaps the most electrifying element of yesterday's general meeting, which otherwise would have been remembered only for the growing unease that the shareholder base, made up mainly of long-standing small shareholders, has shown to have towards Mediobanca, the historical reference shareholder, who is accused of slowing down and influencing the Lion's strategy Trieste.
Del Vecchio, who harbors feelings of resentment towards the top management of Generali for real estate disputes related to his Beni Stabili, was a bit like the stone guest of the Trieste assembly which he animated from early morning with avery inelegant publication in the main Italian newspaper in which he bluntly accused the top management of the company because "when from insurers you want to become financiers by buying the most disparate shareholdings, you are not doing a good service to Generali, which remains one of the best companies if not the best in Italy“. "What bothers me - added the owner of Luxottica who has 3% of the Lion in his portfolio - is that Generali's fundamentals are good and the insurance business works but wanting to go into finance ruins everything".
The CEO of Generali, Giovanni Perissinotto responded with a hard face confessing that he did not expect the attack from Del Vecchio and saying he was "sorry": “I don't understand it, but being an insurer is a bit more complex than making eyewear because all companies in the world are required to invest the premiums they collect not because they want to do finance but because they are obliged investors if they want to enhance the resources collected“. Then the CEO of Generali explained and defended, point by point, all the investments made, from real estate to financial, from domestic to international.
The biggest news has emerged in regards to RCS Corriere della Sera, on which the Trieste manager anticipated that "Generali intends to exit the syndicate agreement and the publishing company because managing newspapers is not their job but that this will happen under more favorable market conditions than the current ones”. On Telecom Perissinotto, on the other hand, said that Generali is pushing for the enhancement of the potential of the telephone group, marred by privatization onwards. Firm defense also of investments in real estate and in particular in Citylife which Generali controls together with Allianz in a diversification strategy which has already offered good answers in terms of profitability. But Perissinotto's warmest defense has been reserved for the investment in the PPF joint with the Czech financier Kellner, whose share the Lion will be able to acquire in 2014 by financing it with his own resources. This operation, which was instrumentally censored by Geronzi and Bollorè a year ago, is in reality - according to the CEO of the Leone - "a major operation that offers enormous possibilities for development in Eastern Europe and that gains value every day, as all analysts and investors have recognized”. Even in Russia, despite the pause in negotiations with the VTB bank due to market uncertainty, Generali is not excluding anything for the future, including the resumption of negotiations. What is evident is Generali's intention to reposition itself over the next 10 years by gradually reducing its presence in Western Europe and instead seizing all the opportunities that may arise in emerging countries, from Brazil to Asia and Eastern Europe.
As for more domestic affairs – as the reconfirmed chairman Gabriele Galateri and CEO Sergio Balbinot also clarified – Generali positively evaluates the effects of article 36 against double offices, they are not at all afraid of the move by the Antitrust on Fonsai-Unipol because they always appreciate competition and transparency and do not feel at all like a captive company of Mediobanca. Even if the future is that of a progressive easing of relations between Piazzetta Cuccia and Generali which will increasingly have to swim alone in the open sea.
