Generali starts the procedure in the board of directors for the sale of Banca Generali

Generali starts the examination of the offer promoted by Mediobanca on Banca Generali and reassures the market: the company will make the appropriate evaluations but at the same time, given the importance of the operation, it will provide timely information on the key steps that will lead to the final decision. The intention, in essence, would be to avoid an excessive impact of Piazzetta Cuccia's offer on Trieste's stock which, although it fell back slightly yesterday, is now sailing steadily well above €30 (-0.32% to €33.88).

It is reported that the debate surrounding the proposal put on the table by the institute's CEO Alberto Nagel was not at the centre of the Lion board meeting held yesterday. However, it would have already generated the first sparks. The intention of the minority councillors on the Caltagirone list, led by Enel CEO Flavio Cattaneo, would be to keep attention high on the issue and if necessary to reach a clash, first of all to ensure that every step is done properly.

Not only that, the industrial and strategic rationale of the transaction would also be in the crosshairs, and more specifically the objective that, when the subsidiary is sold, this should be done on the best possible terms, thus potentially even after a competitive auction. And in the background there is the question, on which there are opposing positions, as to whether Mediobanca's offer should go to a vote at the Generali shareholders' meeting. In this regard, the current top management of the Trieste-based group no longer considers Banca Generali, a subsidiary that contributes about 6% of the company's profits, to be a strategic asset. Proof of this is the fact that the bank has not been involved either in the alliance with Natixis or directly in the company's new industrial plan.

The group, with the board meeting that has just been appointed, has therefore limited itself for now to laying the groundwork for the appropriate consideration of the proposal. Evaluations that will obviously have to end up on the desks of the new committees. In particular, the one called upon to do the main part of the work will be the committee for transactions with related parties (Mediobanca is a shareholder with 13% of the Lion, and it is precisely that package that is the bargaining chip to gain total control of Banca Generali). Leading it, as chairman, will be Fabrizio Palermo, an expression of the Caltagirone list. With him will be three women: Alessia Falsarone, Antonella Mei-Pochtler and Luisa Torchia.

Also crucial in the future is the investment committee chaired by Antonella Mei-Pochtler and comprising Alessia Falsarone, Clara Furse, Fabrizio Palermo, Lorenzo Pellicioli and Clemente Rebecchini. Also indicated is the control and risk committee led by Torchia and in which Marina Brogi, Umberto Malesci and Clemente Rebecchini will sit. The remuneration and human resources committee will include Clara Furse (chairman), Brogi, Patricia Estany Puig, Falsarone and Pellicioli. While that for innovation and social and environmental sustainability Malesci (chairman), Cattaneo, Patricia Estany Puig and Mei-Pochtler. On 28 April, at the first meeting of the Generali board elected at the 24 April meeting, the nominations and corporate governance committee was appointed, chaired by number one Andrea Sironi and with Brogi, Furse, Estany Puig and Torchia among its members.