MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest insurer Generali (MI:GASI) said it had asked industry supervisor IVASS whether a 16.3% combined stake acquired by two of its main investors and third smaller shareholder would have required prior authorisation.
Italian tycoons Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Leonardo del Vecchio, who are respectively Generali's No.2 and No.3 investor, have joined forces against the insurer's single biggest shareholder Mediobanca in a battle over the next Generali CEO.
Smaller Generali shareholder Fondazione CRT has sided with the two magnates and they own in aggregate 16.3% of the insurer after both Caltagirone and Del Vecchio steadily increased their stakes in recent months.
To counter their weight, Mediobanca has borrowed shares to reach a 17.2% voting stake against a 12.8% actual holding.
Caltagirone and a representative for Del Vecchio last month stepped down from Generali's board in a move that freed them from disclosure obligations on further stakebuilding, barring the crossing of certain thresholds.
Generali said it had asked market watchdog Consob to check whether the combined stake was subject to disclosure rules for holdings of more than 10% also in relation to the investors' future intentions and whether the market had been unduly kept in the dark.