UPDATE 1-UniCredit backs consultation on Mediobanca governance
September 2nd, 2008 | by admin |(Adds UniCredit stance, background, shares, previous PARIS)
By Ian Simpson
MILAN, Sept 1 (Reuters) - UniCredit (CRDI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the topshareholder in Italian merchant bank Mediobanca (MDBI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), backsinvolving Mediobanca executives in changes to its two-boardstructure, UniCredit Chairman Dieter Rampl said on Monday.
The stance highlights differences between UniCredit, Italy’sbiggest bank by market share, and Cesare Geronzi, the head ofthe powerful investment bank’s supervisory board, who wants toscrap the current two-board system in a bid to curb management’spower.
The strategic committee of UniCredit’s board backed ChiefExecutive Officer Alessandro Profumo’s call for involvingMediobanca management in any changes in governance, Rampl saidin a statement.
UniCredit’s agreement to changes “will depend on a thoroughand exhaustive analysis of their implications and the fullinvolvement of Mediobanca’s management in the process, in orderto guarantee the good functioning of the company and thecreation of value for all its stakeholders”, Rampl said.
UniCredit owns 8.7 percent of Mediobanca. The bank has beenat the centre of Italian finance since it was founded just afterWorld War Two and has investments in many key Italian companies.
Mediobanca replaced its single-board structure last year toseparate management from its biggest shareholders, many of thembanks.
In Paris, Mediobanca board member Vincent Bollore said thebank should return to a single-board structure. He owns justunder 5 percent of the bank.
