Generali shareholders approve 2010 statements and €0.45 dividend

Dividends are to be paid as from 26 May, following detachment of coupon no.20 on 23 May, after an ordinary and an extraordinary session was chaired by Gabriele Galateri di Genola.

The shareholders having deliberated on the proposal of Mediobanca, decided to set the number of members of the board of directors at 17 (corresponding to the current number of board members) for the remaining period of the current board's tenure and, therefore, until the approval of 2012 financial statements.

On taking up the detailed proposal presented by the Board of Statutory Auditors, assigned the engagement for the external statutory audit of the accounts for the financial years 2012-2020 to the independent auditors Reconta Ernst & Young SpA and established an overall annual fee for services performed of €1.73m.

Also authorised for a maximum period of 18 months was the purchase of up to 2 million own shares on the market in accordance with art. The minimum purchase price shall not be less than the share par value, while the maximum price shall not be more than 5% above the reference share price in the trading session prior to the day of each purchase. As of today the company and its subsidiaries hold 16,131,509 Generali shares, representing 1.036% of the share capital of the company.

The shareholders also amended the by-laws governing the shareholders' meetings in order to comply with the provisions introduced by Legislative Decree no.27 of 27.1.2010 and to align the text of the Regulation with the text of the Articles of Association and appointed the Board of Statutory Auditors for the three-year period 2011/2013, whose members are: Eugenio Colucci (chairman) as first candidate on the list presented by Assogestioni, which received the second-largest number of votes (minority list), and Gaetano Terrin and Giuseppe Alessio Vernì, respectively first and second candidate on the list presented by Mediobanca, which received the largest number of votes (majority list). Maurizio Dattilo (first candidate on the majority list) and Francesco Fallacara (first candidate on the minority list) were elected substitute auditors. The shareholders' meeting also carried a resolution setting the gross annual remuneration of the permanent auditors at €100,000, with a 50% increment for the chairman of the Board of Statutory Auditors.

At the extraordinary session, at the proposal of the Board of Directors the shareholders approved some amendments to the Articles of Association, chiefly in connection with the entry into force of Legislative Decree no. 27 of 27 January 2010.

During the shareholders' meeting some preliminary Group figures for the first quarter of 2011 were announced.

Based on the preliminary figures at the end of March, premiums amounted to €19.1bn, a decrease of 8.3%, arising entirely from the fall in the life business in the single premiums segment, which saw a marked concentration in the first quarter of 2010. The company confirmed the strong performance of life annual premiums, which grew by 3.1%.

Premiums in the non-life lines totalled €6.8bn, an improvement of 2.1%, confirming the positive trend of the last few months of 2010.

Last week the Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali, also met, and named the chairman, Gabriele Galateri di Genola, as chairman of the corporate governance committee.

The board of directors appointed the assistant general manager for legal & corporate affairs, Oliviero Edoardo Pessi, to the post of secretary to the board of directors, replacing Antonio Scala.

The board also designated the group CEO, Giovanni Perissinotto, to represent the company on the steering body of the Pirelli shareholder pact and at the meeting of the shareholders of the Mediobanca shareholder pact, and the general manager, Raffaele Agrusti, to represent the company in the steering body of the RCS shareholder pact.

The executive committee accepted the proposal of the Group CEO Giovanni Perissinotto and the recommendation of the Country Manager for Italy, Paolo Vagnone, and appointed Andrea Mencattini, currently Assicurazioni Generali deputy general manager for operations in Italy, to the post of chief executive officer and general manager of Alleanza Toro. The current CEO of Alleanza Toro, Luigi de Puppi, will be proposed as company chairman at the next Alleanza Toro board meeting.

Responsibility for operations in Italy of Assicurazioni Generali will be assigned to the number two in the division structure, Manlio Lostuzzi, who will take the title of deputy general manager.