Italy’s Fondazione CRT Lifts Stake in Generali to 2%, Its Chairman Says

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Italy’s Fondazione CRT has increased its stake in insurer Generali around 2% after selling its entire holding in Italian bank Banco BPM last week, its chairman Fabrizio Palenzona said on Tuesday.

“We are and will remain on the 2% threshold,” Palenzona said in an interview with daily Il Sole 24 Ore, adding the banking foundation had decided to consolidate its “long-term holding” in Generali to increase the dividend flow to the foundation.

CRT previously held a 1.6% stake in Italy’s top insurer.

Last week, the Italian banking foundation sold a 1.8% stake in Banco BPM for a capital gain which the newspaper estimates at 80 million euros ($86.17 million).

Palenzona added the 1.9% stake in Unicredit bank was “not under discussion” and the foundation supported the bank’s Chief Executive Andrea Orcel.

Last week, the board of UniCredit proposed handing another three-year mandate to Orcel, who took the reins in 2021 and has since managed to more than triple the bank’s share price helped by higher interest rates.

($1 = 0.9284 euros)

(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro, editing by Alessandro Parodi and Sohini Goswami)