UniCredit discloses 4.1% Generali holding, denies any strategic interest

MILAN (Reuters) - UniCredit on Sunday disclosed a 4.1% stake in Generali, a move that the bank said had no strategic intentions but which increases CEO Andrea Orcel's bargaining power in the game of chess taking place in Italian finance.

UniCredit said it had acquired 4.1% of Italy's biggest insurer by buying shares on the market over time. It holds a further 0.6% of Generali as part of ordinary services performed for clients and related hedging, it said in a statement.

"UniCredit has no strategic interest in Generali," the bank said, adding it remained focused on its buyout bid for Banco BPM and the investment in Commerzbank.

"The stake is a pure financial investment of the bank that significantly exceeds its return metrics and has a negligible impact on CET1 (core capital)," UniCredit said.

UniCredit's investment in Generali comes as the insurer likely faces a fresh boardroom battle in the months ahead, and is under scrutiny by the government over a landmark asset management deal with France's BPCE.

It also comes in the midst of several takeover battles in the sector.

Generali's top shareholders are expected to lock horns over whether to hand CEO Philippe Donnet another term in May, and their positions recently diverged over the BPCE deal.

A similar boardroom clash three years ago resulted in Generali's top investor Mediobanca winning over two billionaire investors who failed to oust Donnet.

The two have now become investors also in state-backed Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which has launched a hostile bid for Mediobanca.

They had previously appeared to bet on BPM and, one of them, also on fund manager Anima Holding, which have in the meantime become targets for UniCredit CEO Orcel.

(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by David Holmes)