The investigation

Mediobanca, the opposition: 'The government to report in the courtroom'. Prosecutors: Lovaglio and Caltagirone were aiming at Generali from the start

Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein and M5S leader Giuseppe Conte launch the lunge against the executive. 'Opaque role of the government and the Mef'.

by Rome Editorial Staff

29 November 2025

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Schlein: opaque role of the government and the Mef
Light on the role of Banca Akros
The operation check
Ps: Lovaglio and Caltagirone were targeting Generali from the start
Lovaglio: Giorgetti texted whoever stood us up
Orcel: on the sale of 15% Mps we were told the offer was already closed

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The opposition is launching an attack against the government after the latest developments on the takeover of Mediobanca by Mps, with the Milan public prosecutor's enquiry that has placed the businessman Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, the chairman of Delfin, Francesco Milleri, and the bank's CEO, Luigi Lovaglio, under investigation for alleged market manipulation and obstruction of supervision. Thus, first the secretary of the PD, Elly Schlein, then the leader of the M5S, Giuseppe Conte, asked the executive for a response in parliament.

Schlein: opaque role of the government and the MEF

The Dem secretary puts the economy minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, in particular in the crosshairs. "The picture that emerges from the ongoing investigation into the Mps operation on Mediobanca confirms the serious concerns that we have expressed in recent months, in particular for the opaque role of the government and the MEF," writes Elly Schlein. "The only interventionism in the economy has been demonstrated by favouring takeovers by groups considered to be friends, instead of enforcing the proper functioning of market rules. The judiciary will do its job, but Giorgetti will come immediately to report in the House to clarify to the country all the aspects of this affair'.

Conte: on banking risk we await clarification from Meloni

on As for the Pentastellated number one, the target is, instead, the premier Giorgia Meloni. From whom, writes Conte, 'we expect a clarification on the banking risiko'. In a long post on social media, the M5S leader writes that 'at a time when the country is faced with a poor budget law incapable of sustaining growth, wages, businesses and families, two extremely relevant facts emerge: the Milan public prosecutor's investigation into the Mps-Mediobanca takeover, which involves central figures in the Italian financial system; and the infringement procedure initiated by the European Commission on the government's intervention in the UniCredit-Bpm operation. Both events,' he writes, 'which we have been pointing out for some time and on which we have filed no less than 11 questions since January 2025, all unanswered by the government, call for serious reflection on the role played by the executive in operations that are deeply interconnected'.

For Conte, 'on the Mps-Mediobanca front, the accelerated sale of the public share by the Mef appears increasingly devoid of industrial logic and increasingly linked to power dynamics. An asset rehabilitated with substantial resources from citizens seems to have been used as leverage to facilitate the advance of private groups close to the executive towards Mediobanca - and, by extension, towards Generali - two pillars of the national financial system'.

Scalata di Mps a Mediobanca: indagati Caltagirone, Milleri e Lovaglio

Highlights on the role of Banca Akros

Meanwhile, on the investigation front, new details emerge from the search warrant signed by the Milan Public Prosecutor and executed as part of the enquiry. One of the passages of the document highlights, in particular, the role of Banca Akros to which, as will be recalled, the MEF entrusted the task, last November, of coordinating the sale on the market through accelerated bookbuilding of 15% of the capital of Mps, which then ended up in the sights of Delfin, Caltagirone, Anima and BPM.

The operation check

"It is not explainable, if not in the sense of wanting to pilot the divestment activity, the entrusting, a year ago, of the role of sole bookrunner to Banca Akros, an intermediary with only one experience of Abb behind it, moreover of a considerably smaller entity than the one under examination, whereas the previous Abbs of the Mef had been entrusted to a pool of international banks such as 'Ubs, BofA, Jefferies, as well as Mediobanca'," reads the act of the Milan Public Prosecutor.

The prosecutors: Lovaglio and Caltagirone were betting on Generali from the start

Other details on the relations between the protagonists of the dossier emerge from the prosecutor's papers. In particular, the prosecutor's spotlight has been turned on certain remarks that Mps CEO Luigi Lovaglio allegedly made to Caltagirone. "Generali has been strategic since the beginning," the top manager is said to have said in a conversation reported in the search decree. On the subject of the defensive takeover bid launched by Mediobanca on Banca Generali, Lovaglio said that 'he', i.e. Alberto Nagel (former CEO of Piazzetta Cuccia), 'could only make this move', i.e. the offer on Banca Generali that would have led to the divestment of Mediobanca's shares in Generali.

"If we had said from the beginning,' continues Lovaglio, 'as is true, that Generali is strategic, he', again Nagel, would have said 'ah, Lovaglio said it is strategic, now I'm going to screw him because...'. According to the Milan prosecutors, 'Lovaglio resolutely took sides against Nagel's initiative, simulating relative disinterest on the part of Monte dei Paschi in owning Generali'. In the conversation, we read further, 'Lovaglio, on the contrary, confirmed to Caltagirone that Generali was strategic from the beginning and that the public statements to the contrary were a communication ploy to avoid revealing the agreements made with the shareholders Caltagirone and Delfin, who had been aiming at Generali from the beginning, the so-called "phase two" (with respect to the takeover bid on Mediobanca)'.

Lovaglio: Giorgetti texted those who stood us up

In the conversations reported in the Milan Public Prosecutor's investigation, the name of Economy Minister Giorgetti is also said to have indirectly surfaced. On the subject of the vote against the US fund Blackrock in the takeover bid (Opas) of Mps on Mediobanca, last April, as reported in the prosecutor's search warrant, Lovaglio is said to have told Caltagirone: 'Someone has stood us up, because Blackrock is 2% [...] Exactly, because I wrote to the CEO, and I know that the minister wrote a text message because I told him "Oh, look, he didn't vote! The act also cites Francesco Soro, director general of the Mef, who in a report sent to Consob, 'in contrast' with the investigative findings, 'denied contacts or interlocutions with investors who then acquired shares through the third Abb', the procedure with which in November last year the 15 per cent of Rocca Salimberni shares held by the government was divested, a package acquired by Delfin, the Caltagirone Group, Bpm and Anima. Moreover, the prosecutors note, "the Mef, for its part, had disapproved of Mediobanca's defensive move with respect to the hostile takeover bid by Bmps", considering the acquisition of Banca Generali through the shares held in Generali as a defensive move.

Orcel: on the sale of 15% of Mps they told us the offer was already closed

In the search order, there is also a passage about UniCredit's CEO, Andrea Orcel. "When Giacomo Marino, in agreement of course with me, contacted Banca Akros to represent Unicredit's interest" in the 15% of Mps shares held by the Mef "he was answered that the offer was already closed, something that had surprised us since it is notorious that in similar procedures there is a space for negotiating dialogue before closing the transaction," write the prosecutors of the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office.