Unhappy Investor Caltagirone to Snub Generali Meeting
Tensions among investors in Italy’s largest insurer have been brewing behind closed doors, but are expected to intensify as Generali kicks off a months-long process to appoint a new board in spring next year, the sources told Reuters.
Caltagirone, whose business empire spans construction to publishing, recently raised his Generali stake while also building a holding in its top investor Mediobanca.
With a 12.9% stake, Mediobanca is the leading shareholder in Generali, followed by Caltagirone with 5.6%.
By not taking part in Thursday’s annual general meeting, Caltagirone wanted to signal that he is unhappy with the existing shareholder situation at Generali and would like to have a bigger say on strategic decisions, the sources said.
Both Caltagirone and Leonardo Del Vecchio, who is Generali’s third-largest investor with a 4.8% stake and the single biggest shareholder in Mediobanca, have criticized some of Generali’s strategic moves in the past year, sources have previously said.
However, a source close to Del Vecchio said the eyewear magnate would take part in the AGM, which will be held remotely due to COVID-19, and had already filed his vote.
Generali shareholders will be asked to sign off on the financial statements for 2020 and a proposal to pay a two-tranche dividend of 1.47 euros per share.
Caltagirone’s decision not to attend the AGM was first reported by la Repubblica newspaper.
(Reporting by Stefano Bernabei, Claudia Cristoferi and Gianluca Semeraro; Writing by Valentina Za; Editing by Alexander Smith)