In a recent Financial Times piece, journalist Patrick Jenkins warned that renewed efforts by billionaire Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone to gain control of insurer Assicurazioni Generali risk turning the company into “a pawn of power politics.”
Jenkins reports that Caltagirone - an 82yearold constructiontomedia magnate and ally of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni - has long tried to reshape Generali’s board to unseat chief executive Philippe Donnet and install his own nominees. While previous attempts as a minority shareholder failed, Jenkins says the balance of power has shifted this year after a sequence of stakes and deals tied to Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) and Mediobanca. Through those connections, Caltagirone and his allies are now reckoned to control close to onethird of Generali’s shares, a position Jenkins says materially improves their prospects ahead of the insurer’s annual meeting.
Jenkins sets out the commercial logic behind Caltagirone’s interest. Generali is a major institutional investor in Italy, with extensive realestate holdings that could complement Caltagirone’s construction business and offer business opportunities beyond stature. More politically consequential, Jenkins argues, is the potential alignment between Caltagirone and the government: Generali already ranks among the country’s largest buyers of Italian government bonds, and a board sympathetic to Rome could be nudged to increase domestic debt holdings - a move Jenkins says would help keep borrowing costs lower and serve the government’s fiscal aims.
But Jenkins warns of the risks. He highlights ongoing legal and regulatory complications - notably a Milan prosecutor’s investigation into alleged collusion during the MPSMediobanca takeover and reported ECB resistance to bylaw changes at MPS that would have eased board reshaping - which complicate and constrain any straightforward consolidation of control. He also points to internal dynamics among other large shareholders such as the Del Vecchio/Delfin family, where reported disputes and potential asset sales could change the ownership landscape.
The FT journalist lays out potential outcomes should Caltagirone succeed: Donnet and his likely successor Giulio Terzariol could be removed and replaced by one of Caltagirone’s existing board representatives - names that have been mentioned in market commentary include Fabrizio Palermo and Flavio Cattaneo. Jenkins stresses that such a takeover would be significant not only for Generali’s corporate governance but also for market confidence, arguing that “being a pawn in a game of power politics is rarely consistent with generating shareholder value.”
Market observers quoted by Jenkins caution that any perceived politicisation of a major insurer’s investment strategy could deter foreign capital and alter the dynamics of Italy’s financial markets. Jenkins frames the episode as more than an Italian boardroom struggle, saying it raises broader questions about the independence of large institutional balance sheets and the effect on investor appetite for countries where domestic policy aims might shape corporate investment decisions.
The article concludes that while legal and regulatory checks may slow or reshape Caltagirone’s campaign, many in the market now view it as a matter of “when, rather than if” one of Italy’s industrialists secures greater influence over a major financial group - a development Jenkins believes warrants close attention from investors, insurers and policyholders alike.
