MILAN (Reuters) – Italian billionaire Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone has become a leading player in the ongoing reshaping of Italy’s financial sector.
Battles in the GENERALI and MEDIOBANCA
Last year, Caltagirone expanded its investments in the Italian financial sector and is now a major shareholder in bail-out bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) and fund manager Anima Holding.
On Friday, MPS launched a surprise 13.3 billion euro all-out bid to buy merchant bank Mediobanca (OTC: ), in which Caltagirone has become the second-largest investor over the past five years.
It is the third largest shareholder in top Italian insurer Generali ( BIT: ), with a 6.9% stake. Mediobanca is Generali’s main investor with a 13% stake.
Caltagirone has repeatedly complained that Mediobanca exercises undue influence over Generali through a board and governance system that allows outgoing directors to name their successors.
As a longtime Generali investor and board member, in 2022 he and late fellow billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio unsuccessfully tried to oust CEO Philippe Donetti.
Prime Minister Georgia Mellon’s Conservative government has approved controversial corporate governance changes backed by Caltagirone and criticized by fund managers that tighten the conditions under which a company’s outgoing board can nominate a list of successors.
Donetti’s term is up for renewal in the spring and he is expected to be backed by Mediobanca for another mandate.
What is his role in the Italian banking consolidation?
Caltagironi’s holdings potentially pit him against UniCredit CEO Andrea Orselli, who launched a takeover bid for Banco BPM in November, shortly after BPM launched its own bid for Anima and bought a 5% stake in MPS.
Rome’s treasury has long backed a merger of BPM with MPS, both partners in Anima, and the creation of a core of long-term shareholders as it re-privatises the Siena-based bank it rescued in 2017, the sources said.
Before UniCredit scrapped Rome’s plans, Caltagirone, with a 5% stake in MPS, 5.3% in Anima and 2% in BPM, looked set to become a significant shareholder in the combined entity.
Caltagirone named two representatives to the MPS board in December, including his son Alessandro.
WHO IS CALTAGIRONE?
An Italian entrepreneur with interests in construction, the cement industry, real estate, publishing and finance, Caltagirone was born in Rome on March 2, 1943, to a family of Sicilian origin.
According to the Forbes 2024 wealth ranking, Caltagirone is the tenth richest person in Italy, with a fortune of 5.6 billion euros ($5.9 billion).
It owns Rome-based Il Messaggero, Italy’s eighth-largest newspaper by circulation, which widely supports the Mellon government, and several regional newspapers.
Despite his wealth and influence, Caltagirone keeps a relatively low profile and rarely gives interviews to the media.
He started by reviving his late father’s construction business with two brothers and a cousin. It expanded in the 1980s with the acquisition of the Vianini Group, a Milanese cement and infrastructure firm.
His cement company Cementir, listed on the Italian stock exchange, is present in 18 countries with 3,000 employees worldwide. It is the largest cement producer in Denmark, the third largest in Belgium and among the main international gray cement operators in Turkey.
Caltagirone has three children – Francesco, Alessandro and Azura – all involved in his operations, but no designated heirs.
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