Questions have also been raised, notably by Mediobanca, over the role played by the billionaire Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Delfin, the holding company of late billionaire Leonardo del Vecchio. Both hold shares in MPS and Mediobanca and have long tried to influence the investment bank.
MPS formally launched its public exchange offer on Monday, and Mediobanca will have until September to decide.
“We are witnessing a dirigiste administration that, in a manner reminiscent of Soviet-style governance, applies one set of rules to its allies and another to those who operate independently of political influence,” Pedullà told POLITICO.
“The contrasting treatment of UniCredit’s bid for Banco BPM and Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s offer for Mediobanca appears designed to benefit Caltagirone, major shareholder of MPS, media mogul and close supporter of Giorgia Meloni,” he added.
The tycoon is seen as supporting the Mediobanca-MPS tie-up because it would cement his influence over the insurance giant Generali, of which Mediobanca is a major stakeholder. Caltagirone has repeatedly clashed with the insurer’s French management over its plans to form a joint venture with a French firm, which he says would put billions in Italian savings at risk.
“Italian savings mustn’t end up under foreign control,” Caltagirone told Bloomberg in an interview earlier this year,
But the Treasury takes a different view. As one official said to POLITICO last week: “The Italian people elected a sovereigntist government, why are people surprised when we do sovereigntist things?”
