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How billionaire Caltagirone might affect Italy's banking M&A wave

Italian billionaire Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone has actually become a leading player in the reshaping of Italy's monetary sector that is currently under way.

FIGHTS IN GENERALI AND MEDIOBANCA

Caltagirone in 2015 broadened his financial investments in Italy's. financial sector and is now a crucial investor in bailed-out bank. Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) and fund manager Anima. Holding.

On Friday MPS introduced a surprise 13.3 billion euro. all-share deal to purchase merchant bank Mediobanca, in. which over the last five years Caltagirone has actually become the. second-biggest financier.

He is the third-largest shareholder in Italy's leading insurance provider. Generali, with a 6.9% stake. Mediobanca is the top. financier in Generali with a 13% stake.

Caltagirone has repeatedly complained that Mediobanca applies. excessive impact on Generali through the board and a. governance system which enables outgoing directors to name their. followers.

As a long-standing financier and board member at Generali, in. 2022 he and late fellow billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio looked for. in vain to oust CEO Philippe Donnet.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative federal government has. authorized contested business governance changes promoted by. Caltagirone, and criticised by fund supervisors, which tighten the. terms under which a company's outgoing board can file a list of. followers.

Donnet's term turns up for renewal in the spring and he is. expected to be put forward for another mandate backed by. Mediobanca.

WHAT IS HIS ROLE IN ITALIAN BANKING DEBT CONSOLIDATION?

Caltagirone's holdings potentially pit him versus UniCredit. CEO Andrea Orcel who in November launched a buyout. offer for Banco BPM, quickly after BPM had actually introduced. its own quote for Anima and bought a 5% stake in MPS.

The Treasury in Rome has long favoured combining BPM with. MPS, which both partner with Anima, and constructing a core of. long-lasting investors as it re-privatises the Siena-based bank. it saved in 2017, sources have actually said.

Before UniCredit overthrew Rome's plans, Caltagirone, with a. 5% stake in MPS, a 5.3% Anima holding, and 2% of BPM, looked set. to become a substantial shareholder in the combined entity.

Caltagirone in December called 2 representatives to the MPS. board, including his boy Alessandro.

WHO IS CALTAGIRONE?

An Italian business owner with interests in building and construction, the. cement market, realty, publishing and financing,. Caltagirone was born in Rome on March 2, 1943 to a family of. Sicilian descent.

According to Forbes' 2024 wealth ranking, Caltagirone is. Italy's 10th richest person with an estimated wealth of 5.6. billion euros ($ 5.9 billion).

He owns Rome-based everyday Il Messaggero, Italy's. eighth-largest newspaper by circulation, which is broadly. encouraging of Meloni's government, and several regional. newspapers.

Regardless of his wealth and impact, Caltagirone keeps a. reasonably low profile and rarely offers media interviews.

He started out by reviving his late daddy's building. business alongside his two bros and a cousin. He broadened in. the 1980s with the acquisition of Vianini Group, a Milan-listed. cement and facilities company.

His cement company Cementir, listed on the Italian. Stock Exchange, has an existence in 18 countries with 3,000. staff members worldwide. It is the largest cement producer in. Denmark, the third-largest in Belgium and amongst the main. international grey cement operators in Turkey.

Caltagirone has 3 children - Francesco, Alessandro and. Azzurra - all involved in his operations, but no designated. successors.

(source: Reuters)