The lion opens legal action against former managers Perissinotto and Agrusti. before the labor judge. Five hours of full advice to evaluate and decide whether to proceed with the liability lawsuit against the former CEO of the group Giovanni Perissinotto and the former general manager Raffaele Agrusti. At the center alleged irregularities in terms of internal governance in some investments in private equity and alternative funds made directly by the two former managers. The go-ahead for the legal action, also taken in the light of "new facts and circumstances", came with a majority vote (Lorenzo Pelliccioli voted against).
“The Board has resolved – reads the note issued by the company – to give mandate to the group CEO, Mario Greco, to immediately initiate the appropriate compensation and liability actions in labor law against both Giovanni Perissinotto and Raffaele Agrusti”. The board decided to contest the responsibility of the managers in labor law, considered the most effective, leaving "without prejudice, in the state of the records and knowledge, any faculty regarding the initiation before the competent offices of any other initiative aimed at restoring all damages suffered. Perissinotto and Agrusti reacted with bewilderment and claimed their correctness. Perissinotto defined Generali's move as "absolutely unjust and particularly harmful", he said he was "deeply convinced of the correctness" of its actions and "albeit deeply embittered" he announced that he will defend himself "with the utmost determination" on a legal level.
In detail, the mandate given to CEO Mario Greco is to “undertake judicial actions in labor law aimed at challenging and contesting the termination agreements of the employment relationships concluded with Giovanni Perissinotto and Raffaele Agrusti, the extinction of the titles claimed by Raffaele Agrusti against the company, the recovery of the sums paid to Giovanni Perissinotto, as well as – for both – to the request for compensation for damages suffered due to the non-fulfilment of the obligations deriving from the respective employment relationships, adopting all appropriate measures, initiatives and actions for this purpose”.
The decision was made on the basis of the new assessment requested by IVASS to the Control and Risk Committee which met last Tuesday in a six-hour meeting in which it examined the papers and legal opinions. Again at the request of Ivass, the Board of Directors also analyzed the evaluations of the Remuneration Committee concerning the economic treatment granted both to the former CEO Perissinotto and to the former general manager Agrusti in the context of the exit agreements. The requests from IVASS had arrived after the Leone council had in principle decided not to proceed on a legal level in the light of the opinions of the Erede, Bonelli, Pappalardo and Francesco Mucciarelli law firms which had excluded the criminal relevance while noting the procedural irregularities.
The opinion of these committees was decisive, since the relative majority shareholder, Mediobanca, had already made it known that it would comply with any indications. And in Piazzetta Cuccia yesterday it was the Lion who brought the good news. Also yesterday, Mediobanca's half-yearly accounts were released, which doubled its profit in the first half to 305 million, from 124 million a year earlier, thanks to the contribution of the equity portfolio (245,4 million) and above all Generals. The institute sold investments for 512 million (139 million in the first quarter), with capital gains of 151,2 million. Mediobanca, as announced in the 2014-2016 business plan, has in fact continued the sale of shares, with disposals which mainly concerned Gemina and Saks, bringing profits of 38,6 million and 28,9 million respectively, and to a lesser extent Rcs. Among the unlisted shares is the divestment of the Telco shareholder loan, exchanged for Telefonica shares (94,9 million) then sold on the market.
MEDIOBANCA AT WORK ON SISTEMA'S BAD BANK
THRESHOLD FOR AUTOMATIC TERMINATION OF THE AGREEMENT DOWN TO 25%
Piazzetta Cuccia then strengthened the capital ratios with core tier 1 at 11,9%, stating that the capital position is adequate and confirming that it does not need new capital. In the conference call on the half-year results, CEO Alberto Nagel confirmed that the institute is working on a vehicle for impaired loans in the banking system, defined as an "interesting business": "we are working on it - he explained - we have to see if this project is technically feasible and within a couple of months we will have more precise indications”. Nagel underlined that it would also be a "plus also for the Mediobanca alternative asset management project".
"If we find a good technical solution that represents a good opportunity for banks that want to deconsolidate problem loans at realistic prices - he specified - by associating collection and management with this activity, also managing to give investors the opportunity to invest in this asset class, we will find a very good deal that brings recurring commissions”.
In the six months, deposits grew by 2 billion to 53,3 billion. In the same period, the group repaid 500 million Ltro and 2,5 billion bonds. The goal now is to improve governance so that it is, Nagel said, "more attractive to investors." In the meantime, the Pact has reduced the threshold for the automatic termination of the agreement to 25% from 30% and has authorized Vincent Bollorè's rise from 6 to 8%. Waiting, perhaps, for a "lighter" and "simplified" pact.
