Philippe Donnet during the presentation of Generali’s strategic plan in Milan, November 21, 2018 (AFP / Miguel MEDINA)
At the helm of Generali since 2016, Philippe Donnet had to draw on his experience as a rugby player to jump into the fray and run for a third term, in the face of the attack launched by two billionaires who joined forces to block his way.
“If you are afraid before the match, you have lost. If you underestimate the opposing team, you will also be beaten. You have to take the opponents seriously, without being afraid of them”, advocated the CEO of the first Italian insurer in an interview with the German press in 2018.
This recommendation is all the more topical as the company founded in Trieste in 1831 is now facing the biggest battle in its history, both in terms of its international repercussions and its vehemence.
The verdict on the fate of the CEO will fall on Friday: gathered in a general meeting, the shareholders will have to decide between the renewal of Mr. Donnet and the candidate of the dissident camp, Luciano Cirina, 56, former head of the Eastern Europe region of Generali.
Construction magnate Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, 79, who owns 9.95% of his capital, and his ally Leonardo Del Vecchio, 86, founder of eyewear manufacturer Luxottica (8%), blame Mr. Donnet no more nor less than not having been able to stop “the decline” of Generali.
Mr. Donnet, a 61-year-old French polytechnician, on the other hand, argues that since his arrival in November 2016, the share price has climbed 55%, well above the sector average, and shareholder returns have s increased by 106%.
– His mantra, calm –
Logo of the Generali insurer in Milan. (AFP/Archives/Miguel MEDINA)
Shortly after his arrival at Generali in 2013, as boss of the Italian branch, he compared the group to a “quiet force”, borrowing the slogan invented by Jacques Séguéla for François Mitterrand’s presidential campaign in 1981.
Even today, in his office on the 39th floor of the Generali Tower in Milan, which offers a breathtaking view of the Alps, a sign announces his mantra, in English: “Calm is a superpower”. .
“I’m not emotional,” he said in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper. But he is not about to forget the “betrayal” of Luciano Cirina: “when you think that on March 8 Cirina was in Eastern Europe to present the ‘strategic jointly drawn up’ plan, “and on March 15 it appears in Caltagirone’s list”.
Former pillar of the Paris University Club (PUC), Philippe Donnet applied, according to his close collaborators, the fundamental values of rugby such as teamwork and discipline to his management style.
– Concern for independence –
This is not his first challenge: shortly after his rise to the post of CEO, the Italian press was buzzing with rumors concerning a possible takeover bid (OPA) prepared on the sly by his former employer, the French insurer Axa .
In the role of the white knight, decided to cross swords in the name of “Italianness”, the bank Intesa Sanpaolo approached Generali to counter a marriage with Axa, but encountered the refusal of Mr. Donnet. Setting himself up as the guarantor of the insurer’s autonomy, he had succeeded in his baptism of fire.
He also had to prove his independence from another French group, Vivendi, which had pushed his candidacy and was at the time an influential shareholder in the investment bank Mediobanca, in turn the leading investor in Generali.
Philippe Donnet arrived at Generali after a long international career, including 22 years at Axa: he headed its Italian subsidiary from 1999 to 2001 before being sent to Japan in 2004 and promoted to boss of the Asia-Pacific region in 2006.
He was recruited in 1985 by the man who would become his mentor, the founder of Axa, Claude Bébéar, with whom he shares his passion for rugby. And not only.
Sign of the links that have remained intact, Philippe Donnet and Claude Bébéar entered in April in a personal capacity in the capital of Joanne, a Bordeaux distributor of grands crus.
© 2022 AFP
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