The battle to modernise Italy's corporate governance

TWENTY YEARSCEOAGM ago Mediobanca was the epicentre of the (the “fine drawing room”), a group of old-fashioned firms whose web of cross-connections dominated Italian business. Times have changed. Today the Milanese bank is in the modernising camp in a fight with two super-seniors over the future of 190-year-old Generali, Italy’s biggest insurer. Its outcome could decide whether Italy’s corporate governance is at last thrust into the 21st century.The power struggle pits Alberto Nagel, boss of Mediobanca, against Leonardo Del Vecchio, the 86-year-old founder of Luxottica, an eyewear giant, and Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, a 78-year-old construction tycoon. Both sides own big stakes in Generali: Mediobanca controls 17%, while the pair together own 14%. At stake is the future direction and governance of one of Italy’s biggest firms. Mr Nagel thinks Generali is on the right path under the stewardship of Philippe Donnet, the group’s French whose mandate is up for renewal at the annual general meeting () in April. Messrs Del Vecchio and Caltagirone are agitating for regime change at the venerable Trieste-based insurer.