UniCredit will gradually reduce its stake in Generali, eventually exiting the capital of the insurance group entirely.
This was confirmed by CEO Andrea Orcel, who ruled out any 'transformational' operations in the insurance sector for Italy's second-largest bank.
Speaking at a CEO conference organized by Mediobanca, Orcel noted that building stakes in a target company as a first step towards potential partnerships could be a good strategy, given the widespread hostility among European governments towards banking M&A.
"I want to be very clear: the investment in Generali is not that," Orcel said. "We will reduce it and, over time, exit completely."
(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Stefano Bernabei and Francesca Piscioneri)
