Adds quotes from sources, detail, background
MILAN, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Mediobanca CEO Alberto Nagel can count on the support of private investors representing about 15% of the Milanese bank’s capital, two sources close to the matter said on Thursday, as a governance spat heats up.
Power struggles at Mediobanca MDBI.MI and insurer Generali GASI.MI, in which the bank is the main investor, have pitted billionaires Leonardo Del Vecchio and Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone against the CEOs of both groups.
Del Vecchio, founder of eyewear maker Luxottica ESLX.PA, owns 18.9% of Mediobanca and became its single biggest investor in 2019 just as a core of longstanding shareholders in the Milanese bank unravelled.
Construction magnate Caltagirone has built a 3% stake.
On Tuesday, Del Vecchio ramped up pressure on Nagel by proposing governance changes aimed at giving directors and shareholders “the right to decide who should run the bank”.
He stopped short of pushing for immediate management changes, but the proposal brought to light tensions that have been simmering for a while between the two men.
Supporting Nagel, who a year ago won another mandate as CEO with 68% of the vote, are other investors, some of whom are part of a shareholder pact that met on Thursday.
“Shareholders in the pact support Nagel’s business plan and strategy. Other shareholders not in the pact with about 5%, such as Unipol and French financier Vincent Bolloré, give Nagel external support,” one of the sources said after the meeting.
For decades a pact among Mediobanca investors guaranteed the stability of the bank’s shareholder base.
However, the departure of investors such as UniCredit CRDI.MI and others dropping out of the pact, such as Bolloré, has meant it is now a mere consultation agreement.
Italian pet food manufacturer Monge has joined with its 1.09% holding, raising the pact’s combined stake to 12.08% from 10.73%, Mediobanca said on Thursday. However, that is set to fall to about 10% after the planned exit of the Benetton family who hold a 2.1% stake in January.
“From now to year-end the stake of the pact is likely to grow,” said one source, adding that its members had expressed a willingness to increase their stakes and that further expressions of interest to enter “are expected”.
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; editing by Jason Neely)
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