Benetton family wants Generali to stay in Italian hands - report (updated)

Caltagirone SpA

19/05/2019 16:44

(Adds details and time frame for management change at holding
company)
    MILAN, May 19 (Reuters) - The Benetton family wants Generali
 GASI.MI  to remain in Italian hands and is ready to tighten its
grip on Europe's third-biggest insurer along with other Italian
investors, Luciano Benetton said in a newspaper interview.
    Luciano is one of the four siblings who founded the Benetton
industrial empire, which ranges from the eponymous clothing
company to infrastructure group Atlantia  ATL.MI  and travel
caterer Autogrill  AGL.MI .
    Edizione, the Benetton family holding company, emerged as an
Italian buttress against a potential foreign takeover of
Generali, after increasing its stake in the insurer along with
Italian entrepreneurs Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Leonardo
Del Vecchio.
    "With Caltagirone, Del Vecchio together we make a good
Italian front. We have a sizeable Italian stake that, all three
together, we want to increase", Luciano Benetton told La
Repubblica. 
    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 Atlantia had not received a
request to invest in Italian carrier Alitalia, adding Atlantia's
managers retained the trust of the family after the deadly
collapse of a bridge operated by the firm's motorway unit.
    After the disaster that killed 43 people, Italy's government
said the Benettons were greedy speculators and threatened to
revoke Atlantia's concession, citing poor maintenance of the
motorway network. 
    The Benettons and the company have always denied any
wrongdoing and the entrepreneur reiterated the group had done
the proper maintenance for the infrastructures it managed.
    Sources have told Reuters the government would be prepared
to mend 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,"
Luciano Benetton said, adding, however, that it was important
the Alitalia brand remained in Italian hands.  
    The entrepreneur also said former Telecom Italia  TLIT.MI 
boss Marco Patuano would not be offered a second term as the CEO
of Edizione, the company which manages the Benettons stakes in
Atlantia, Autogrill, Generali and other companies. 
    Patuano's mandate ends on May 24.
    His successor will be an Edizione's insider, but not a
family member, Luciano Benetton said.   
    The Benetton clothing company will swing back to profit in
2020 and will open a hundred new stores, he also said.

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BREAKINGVIEWS-New threats cloud Benetton’s lasting legacy   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1X323M
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 and Mark Potter)