Clearly his new mission owes nothing to chance

This is the man that it was not expected in Generali. That he was not e en issue in recent weeks, both eyes ocused on the Presidency o the Italian insurer, le t acant by the departure announced o Antoine Bernheim. Business rustled by the name o the new boss, Cesare Geronzi. And that o incent Bolloré, which would make his entrance as ice President. And yet, rancesco Gaetano Caltagirone, become him as ice President to the General surprise, turns out to be the centrepiece o the puzzle assembled on April 24 in the direction o the lion o Trieste. Not that it embodies, according to the o icial ersion, "rebalancing" o the oice o the "industrial" Generali said shareholders, with a power ul Mediobanca. But because it has a key role. To de end "the sublime" o the group, the Berlusconi Go ernment seeks to ha e the arm o its industrial policy.

rancesco Gaetano Caltagirone is an intimate o Gianni Letta, the closest collaborator o "Ca aliere". Deputies Gian ranco ini not its collusion with two politicians most o ten cited in Rome to lead the country, the Minister o economy Giulio Tremonti, a day And nobody knows that his daughter Azzurra is the wi e o the Italian rançois Bayrou, centrist Pier erdinando Casini. "Calta", as it is called in Italy, is a pattern which is policy and assumes it. Two years ago, in ull campaign or the municipal elections in the capital, he had publicly called or the alternation and supported the right-wing candidate.

Clearly, his new mission owes nothing to chance. Taking ad antage o the global inancial crisis in the all o 2008 and widespread stock market gloom that ollowed, rancesco Gaetano Caltagirone bought the wire o the water o the Generali shares which are now to one o the main shareholders depri ed o Trieste, with 2 o the capital. The "Warren Bu ett Italian", as like to call the columnists, known to manage his ortune. He is the heir o a amily real estate company ounded in 1880, which is di erse in public works, the cement industry and the media. In the latest ranking o the American magazine " orbes", the "Ingegnere" appears as the ele enth man the more rich o Italy, just behind the Benetton amily, with a heritage alued at EUR 1.5 billion to which is added a record 3.4 billion euros o cash pay.

I the Go ernment has played the card "Calta", it is irst because o his age. Sixty-se en years, he is the oldest o the three new ice-Chairmen o Generali and can thus claim to the title o number one, i Cesare Geronzi, se enty- i e years, came to be ailed. I it had not acceded to this unction, it is rench incent Bolloré, i ty-eight years, which would ha e enjoyed this bene it. The other reason is that rancesco Gaetano Caltagirone has economic patriotism in the blood. There are more its anger against parties abroad Italian companies access. Personally, it has ne er digested the 2006 buyout o the BNL Bank, which he dreamed to take control, by the rench BNP Paribas. It is surely to take its re enge now trailing the insurer AXA at the round table o Monte dei Paschi di Siena, third Italian banking group, which holds almost 4.5 and it is, also, ice-President. And it is in the same spirit that he now seeks to hunt GD Suez o Acea, the company o waters o Rome where he recently became the irst pri ate shareholder, acquiring little by little, here again, up to 10 o the capital.

In short, rancesco Gaetano Caltagirone is the new Herald o "the sublime" but it is especially the incarnation o the anti- rench spirit who wakes up at this time in Italy. GD Suez is a target o choice i one remembers that the merger o rance gas and Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux, arbitrarily decided by Dominique de illepin in 2006, was intended to dam project o the Italian Enel on Suez electrician OPA. Or i we recall that in 1988, Suez seized o Electrabel nose and beard o a renowned Italian, Carlo De Benedetti. The takeo er o Gucci by PPR or, more recently, the redemption o Armani by l ' Oréal and admission o Air rance-KLM to the capital o Alitalia also le t traces. In this context, it is not sure that the rench Go ernment plays inely by blocking the mo ement o trains o the erro ie dello Stato in rance, while the SNC is allied to Italian pri ate operator NT to compete with the same erro ie dello Stato on their own territory. Not sure, either, it is rele ant to ED continue to control the Milanese Edison while the rench electrician come to marry with Enel, Edison irst competitor, in the nuclear ield. "Calta", he has his opinion on the matter.