UniCredit has announced that it has built a 4.1% stake in Generali, Italy’s largest insurance and asset management company. The Milan-based bank also holds an additional 0.6% of Generali on behalf of clients and their related hedging activities. UniCredit stated that the holding is “a purely financial investment” and has “no strategic interest in Generali.” However, this move adds another layer of complexity to the ongoing battle to control Italy’s financial sector.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government seems to be pushing to create a new banking consortium to compete with UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo. This effort has the support of some local billionaires. Rome wants to ensure that Generali maintains its appetite for Italian sovereign debt, as the government needs to borrow nearly €1 billion a day.
Generali is the government’s largest private-sector creditor.
Unicredit’s financial stake in Generali
Initially, the government advocated for an alliance between Banco BPM and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS).
However, UniCredit formally offered all of Banco BPM last year, thwarting that plan. Rome is supporting a bid by MPS for Mediobanca, a merchant bank historically associated with some of Italy’s largest business empires. Mediobanca is also Generali’s biggest shareholder, with a 13.1% stake.
The Del Vecchio and Caltagirone families, who hold just under 10% and 7% of Generali, respectively, reportedly wish to increase their influence over the insurer. A person familiar with the matter stated that while UniCredit’s stake purchase wasn’t an explicit attempt to exert leverage in the billionaires’ tussle over Generali, it would have an “interesting” effect at a forthcoming board meeting. According to people familiar with the situation, UniCredit had begun accumulating Generali shares before MPS’s move on Mediobanca.
The bank built its stake via derivatives, allowing it to gain economic exposure to Generali without crossing the threshold for mandatory disclosure.