The short list for the new Generali board is now ready, where the name of the president Gabriele Galateri will not appear even as a director.
In a personal communication, read to "colleagues, before discussing the definition of the board list" Galateri, after having considered his stay at the top of the Lion - 11 years as president and another 7 as vice president -, announced his exit from the board "in full serenity and unity of purpose".
The decision is based on the definitive loss of the independence requirement, which the self-discipline code of listed companies establishes for directors in 9 years.
Furthermore, considering the international best practice of listed companies with widespread capital, for a group like Generali having a non-independent chairman would be at least inappropriate.
Added to this is the ongoing clash in the shareholding of the company, which led Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, Romolo Bardin and Sabrina Pucci to resign.
The board of directors, down from 13 to 10 members, will be reinstated in a meeting next week by choosing three profiles who will then be candidates on the final list to be brought to the meeting on 29 April.
If, at the meeting of the board on the budget scheduled for March 14, a list of 13 or more members is chosen, it will depend on the orientation opinion that the board of directors will always express during the meeting on the table which, in essence, expressed a qualitative-quantitative profile for the names of the next board of directors.
As for the high profile squad of those who have already given their willingness to apply, it is 15-20 names, or 30% more than the 13-17 members foreseen for the board by the statute.
In addition to the CEO Philippe Donnet, challenged by Caltagirone and the shareholders by the agreement, which remains composed of Leonardo Del Vecchio's Delfin and the Crt Foundation, the current directors ready to continue for another three years are Clemente Rebecchini (Mediobanca), Diva Moriani, Antonella Mei-Pichtler and Ines Mazzilli (elected on the Assogestioni list).
Less certain is Lorenzo Pellicioli (De Agostini).
There will be no Alberta Figari who, like Galateri, has lost the requisite of independence.
There are therefore at least seven new names to be put on the list.