Benetton aims to increase Generali stake -report

Caltagirone SpA

19/05/2019 12:28

MILAN, May 19 (Reuters) - Italy's Benetton family wants to
increase its stake in Generali  GASI.MI  and believes that
Europe's third-biggest insurer must remain in Italian hands,
Luciano Benetton said in an interview published in La
Repubblica.
    Luciano is one of the four siblings who founded the Benetton
industrial empire, which ranges from the eponymous clothing
company to the infrastructure group Atlantia  ATL.MI .
    Edizione, the Benetton family holding company, emerged as an
Italian buttress against foreign takeovers of Generali, after
increasing its stake in the insurer together with Italian
entrepreneurs Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Leonardo Del
Vecchio.
    "With Caltagirone and Del Vecchio, together we make a good
Italian front. We have a sizeable Italian stake that, all three
together, we want to increase", Benetton said. 
    French insurer Axa  AXAF.PA  and Switzerland's Zurich
Insurance  ZURN.S  have been viewed as potential buyers of
Generali.
    "We think that Generali must remain an Italian company." 
    Luciano Benetton also said that Atlantia had not received a
proposal to invest in Italian carrier Alitalia, adding that the
group's managers retained the trust of the family after the
deadly collapse of a bridge operated by the Atlantia's motorway
unit.
    Italy's government had said the Benettons were greedy
speculators and threatened to revoke Atlantia's concession,
citing poor maintenance of the motorway network.
    Sources have told Reuters that the government would be
prepared to mend its relations with the Benettons and Atlantia
in exchange for the company's help in rescuing loss-making
airline Alitalia.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2204T1
    "There has been no meeting, no proposal, nothing at all," he
said. 
    The Benetton clothing company will swing back to profit in
2020 and will open a hundred new stores, the entrepreneur said.

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BREAKINGVIEWS-New threats cloud Benetton’s lasting legacy   
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Genoa bridge disaster sharpens focus on Benetton strategy shift 
   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1V90IQ
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 (Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro and Francesca Landini, editing
by Louise Heavens)