Generali CEO secures new term after contested Natixis deal

By Gianluca Semeraro and Valentina Za

TRIESTE, Italy (Reuters) -Generali Chief Executive Philippe Donnet secured shareholder support on Thursday to stay in the job for another three years, after he struck a landmark asset management deal that irked both a major investor and the Rome government.

The vote hands a victory to top shareholder Mediobanca, which owns 13% of Generali, over the second- and third-largest investors, who together own 17% of the insurer and 27% of Mediobanca itself.

The two - Delfin, the holding company of late Ray-Ban billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio, and construction magnate Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone - three years ago lost another shareholder vote to Mediobanca, failing to oust Donnet.

Since then, other battlefronts have emerged in the clash between Mediobanca and Delfin-Caltagirone, posing a new threat for the relations between Mediobanca and Generali.

ITALIAN TAKEOVER BATTLES

The latest shareholder clash at Generali, which is Europe's fourth-largest insurer, comes amidst a wave of consolidation in Italian finance, and it has implications for other takeover battles currently unfolding.

In a surprise move that is seen aiding its buyout offer for Banco BPM, UniCredit sided with Caltagirone on Thursday, after building a Generali stake of 6.7%.

However, Caltagirone only won three board seats and Mediobanca 10, leaving the balance of power within the board unchanged.

Caltagirone is close to conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose government has thrown a spanner in the wheels of UniCredit's bid for BPM with a set of conditions.

Donnet, 64, has led Italy's biggest insurer since 2016 with Mediobanca's support.

In a newspaper interview on Sunday, Caltagirone, 81, said he did not have an alternative CEO to propose, but he could gain enough board seats to stop the "wretched" asset management deal.

Generali in January signed a non-binding accord with French bank BPCE to combine their asset management units - Generali Investment Holding (GIH) and Natixis Investment Managers - to create Europe's biggest asset manager by revenue.

Facing mounting criticism over a deal which needs government approval, Donnet has said the new board would not ignore opposition from Rome if that persisted. 

Mediobanca, which enjoys the backing of institutional investors, secured 52.4% of preferences in Thursday's vote and Caltagirone 36.8%. Attendance stood at 68.7%.

Institutional investors hold almost a third of Generali, retail investors nearly one fifth.

Besides UniCredit and Delfin, Caltagirone had the backing of banking foundation CRT, while Italy's Benetton family is abstaining.

The Natixis deal alarmed Meloni's government fuelling worries it could divert Italians' savings away from the country's large public debt.

Strengthening his ties with the government, Caltagirone in November became a shareholder in bailed-out bank Banca Monte dei Paschi (MPS), alongside Delfin, when the government sold a stake.

Having since acquired a near 20% combined stake in the Tuscan bank, Delfin and Caltagirone last week helped MPS to secure ample shareholder support for a hostile bid to take over Mediobanca.

The bid is seen as the next showdown in the long-running rift between Mediobanca and Delfin-Caltagirone.

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro in Trieste and Valentina Za in Milan; Editing by Sharon Singleton)