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Billionaire investor Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone has clashed with Monte dei Paschi di Siena chief executive Luigi Lovaglio over plans for Mediobanca, a rift that threatens to unseat the head of one of Italy’s largest banks.
Caltagirone and Lovaglio are at odds over plans for a full-blown merger between the two banks because of the implications for Mediobanca’s stake in insurer Generali, according to three people briefed on the ongoing internal discussions.
The dispute risks unsettling investors as Italy’s banking sector attempts to grapple with a wave of dealmaking.
Caltagirone has become one of the most influential investors in Italian finance, with a web of holdings that centre on Generali. Combining MPS and Mediobanca would lead to the Milanese bank’s delisting and placing its 13 per cent stake in Generali under the control of MPS, the people said.
Such a scenario would leave Lovaglio free to decide on the future of the stake in the insurer, including a potential sale, while reducing the influence of Caltagirone, who is the third-largest shareholder in Generali behind Mediobanca and Delfin.
“Obviously, this means Caltagirone loses his grip over Generali and it makes no sense from his perspective,” said one of the people. “But doing what Caltagirone says makes no sense from a market perspective in Lovaglio’s view so they’re at a dead end.”
The rift has raised fears among allies of the MPS chief executive that Caltagirone is manoeuvring to oust him.
Italian authorities are scrutinising the MPS-Mediobanca deal and the roles played by Lovaglio, Caltagirone and the Del Vecchio family’s investment vehicle Delfin, which also owns a large stake in the group.
Lovaglio, Caltagirone and Delfin chair Francesco Milleri are all under investigation. All three deny any wrongdoing.
Lovaglio and the rest of the board’s three-year term comes to an end in April.
This week, the MPS committee charged with advising on succession planning — which includes Caltagirone’s son — recommended Lovaglio be excluded from the upcoming board candidate selection process because of his involvement in the ongoing criminal investigation.
The stand-off between the two camps is expected to erupt at next week’s board meeting, according to the three people. However, nobody wants “to see a dramatic escalation at this point, as it would be counter-productive for everyone involved”, said one of the people.
Last year, MPS’s board said it stood by Lovaglio in spite of the investigation. It is ultimately up to the board, rather than the committee, to decide whether Lovaglio should run for a new term.
Caltagirone has been seeking to secure his grip over Generali for years. He sponsored the appointment of Mediobanca’s new chief executive, Alessandro Melzi d’Eril, in October and now wants the Milanese lender to retain the stake in the insurer directly, the three people said.
Under the plan Lovaglio shared with investors at the time of the deal, Mediobanca would remain an independent legal entity.
But its subsidiaries, such as its wealth management division Mediobanca Premier, and the stake in Generali would be transferred to the parent company.
Lovaglio has also promised investors synergies worth upwards of €700mn, which could not be achieved without a full-blown merger.
MPS has been dogged by rumours in recent weeks that Delfin is seeking to offload its stake. On Thursday, UniCredit denied reports that it was interested in purchasing the stake as “speculative in nature and unjustified”.
