MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s insurance watchdog IVASS said on Tuesday it would not start a probe into Generali’s rebel investors as it had not found any evidence they had breached disclosure rules over their stakes.
Generali had asked IVASS in February whether a 16.3% combined stake acquired by two of its main investors, Italian tycoons Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Leonardo Del Vecchio, and a third smaller shareholder Fondazione CRT, would have required prior authorisation.
Generali declined to comment on the IVASS decision.
Europe’s third-largest insurer is at the centre of a shareholder battle that has cast doubts on the reappointment of CEO Philippe Donnet, whose term ends in April and is backed by the largest investor Mediobanca and the outgoing board.
The three investors had struck a consultation pact last year to challenge Mediobanca over the renewal of Generali’s board.
Caltagirone quit the pact in January, to prevent, sources said at that time, regulatory scrutiny on whether the alliance was indeed a consultation pact or represented a more substantial concert party which could have seen its voting power curtailed.
Del Vecchio and CRT dissolved the pact last week. Caltagirone has put forward an alternative candidate for the role of CEO in a challenge to Donnet’s reappointment.
As part of its ordinary supervisory activities, IVASS continues to closely monitor events regarding the company’s shareholding structure, and it reserves the right to take steps if needed, it said in a statement.
(Reporting by Andrea Mandala; Writing by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Gianluca Semeraro and David Holmes)
