Mediobanca’s high investor Del Vecchio seeks extra clout By Reuters

By Elisa Anzolin and Valentina Za

MILAN (Reuters) – Mediobanca (OTC:)’s high investor Leonardo Del Vecchio has proposed altering the Italian service provider financial institution’s by-laws to offer extra energy to its board and shareholders over executives, however stated he was not pushing for administration or board modifications.

Two years in the past, Italian eyewear billionaire Del Vecchio rocked Italy’s monetary institution by rising as the most important investor in Mediobanca, the Milanese financial institution that used to drag the strings of Italy Inc.

Del Vecchio, 86, certainly one of Italy’s richest males, has been steadily growing his Mediobanca holding after gaining a inexperienced gentle from the European Central Financial institution. He now owns 18.9%, a stake at the moment value 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion), via his holding firm Delfin.

Delfin stated it had no plans to push to switch Mediobanca’s present board or administration.

The proposed governance modifications goal to make sure Mediobanca’s managers and administrators pursue “the creation of worth for all shareholders … and in the end depart the proper to administrators and shareholders … to resolve who ought to run the financial institution.”

Mediobanca acknowledged the proposal in a word and stated it will a maintain board assembly within the coming days.

Delfin stated it wished Mediobanca to ditch a requirement in its by-laws stating that two or three administrators – relying on the scale of the board – should be executives who’ve held that function for a minimum of three years.

Delfin additionally stated it wished the board to have extra impartial administrators picked from a minimum of two slates of nominees submitted by minority traders.

“We anticipate the market to favour the primary proposal … however the second proposal might have a much less market-friendly final result,” Citi analyst Azzura Guelfi stated, noting the affect of different minority traders could possibly be restricted if Delfin proposes one of many slates.

Del Vecchio has no representatives on Mediobanca’s board, which expires when the financial institution approves outcomes to June 30, 2023.

After initially criticising the technique of boss Alberto Nagel when he began shopping for Mediobanca shares, Del Vecchio has praised Nagel’s newest marketing strategy offered in November 2019.

Prior to now, Del Vecchio and Nagel have locked horns over a undertaking for a Milanese hospital. In addition they have diverging views over Generali (MI:), Italy’s greatest insurer.

Mediobanca, the only largest investor in Generali, is pushing to reappoint present CEO Philippe Donnet. Generali’s board endorsed that transfer on Monday.

Del Vecchio, the third-largest shareholder in Generali, is a part of an investor pact pushing for a change of CEO and technique.

Earlier on Tuesday, Italy’s Benetton household, like Del Vecchio an investor in each Mediobanca and Generali, stated it wished to maintain a impartial stance in relation to all of its investments.

By 0753 GMT shares in Mediobanca had been up 1.3%, outperforming Milan’s blue-chip index.

($1 = 0.8537 euros)