The most sensational news of the last hour is that of the possible landing of Alessandro Profumo, a banker of race already at the helm of Unicredit and then at the presidency of Mps, at the head of Leonardo-Finmeccanica in place of Mauro Moretti. But a changing of the guard is also looming at the Italian Post Office, where the Government is thinking of replacing Francesco Caio with the current CEO of Terna, Matteo Del Fante who was already in charge of postal savings when he was director of Cassa depositi e prestiti. On the other hand, the top management of Eni, Enel and Enav are towards confirmation, whose helmsmen – Claudio Descalzi at Eni, Francesco Starace at Enel and Roberta Neri at Enav – are destined to keep their role.
If the Government, for which Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan are acting personally, manages to convince Alessandro Profumo, he will have done bingo. The sixty-year-old Genoese banker, who is now chairman and shareholder of Equita Sim with great personal satisfaction but who is also on the Eni board of directors, is currently reflecting on the government's offer to become civil servant and to assume the role of CEO by Leonardo-Finmeccanica. Moreover, that Mauro Moretti, despite the good financial results, could not be reconfirmed at the helm of the public aerospace and defense group, it had been understood for some time because the seven-year sentence weighs against him in the first instance for the railway disaster of Viareggio when he was at the helm of the Fs: his public appointment today, beyond his undisputed professional merits, would sound like a slight to the families of the victims.
The possible arrival of a genuine manager like Profumo would be coupled with the confirmation of Gianni De Gennaro as president of Leonardo-Finmeccanica.
The other open game on public appointments is that of the Italian Post Office, where the Government seems oriented towards changing CEO Francesco Caio. Here too, despite the good financial results, other factors weigh against Caio: the differences on privatization, the failed acquisition of Pioneer (which from Unicredit ended up with the French of Amundi) and the constant disagreements with the president Luisa Todini. If the leadership of Poste Italiane changes, the Government wants to play it safe and rely on a manager who already knows the postal business and above all the problems of postal savings. This is why the Treasury is thinking of Matteo Del Fante, the current CEO of Terna who recently expressed a personal desire to continue the development program of the energy group, but who in his curriculum vitae has direct knowledge of the post office (where for four years he also had an office) gained when he was director of Cassa depositi e prestiti. And it is precisely this trump card that is pushing him towards the leadership of Poste Italiane.
The possible promotion of Del Fante to the Post Office would naturally open up a problem for Terna, for which a candidacy from one of the major local utilities or that of the financial director of the Post Office and former Enel, Luigi Ferraris, would emerge.
The pink presidencies (Emma Marcegaglia at ENI, Patrizia Grieco at Enel, Catia Bastioli at Terna, Biancamaria Farina in place of Luisa Todini at the post office) should once again crown the bouquet of nominations.
The games are about to close, but until the end, surprises in public nominations are always the order of the day. Between tonight and Monday morning before the reopening of the Stock Exchange, the Treasury should deliver the list of candidates for the boards of directors of all public companies expiring in view of the next meetings and only then will the curtain fall.
