the go-ahead from the shareholders’ meeting – Corriere.it

No surprises at the Enel shareholders’ meeting, which elected the new board of directors and Paolo Scaroni as president. Flavio Cattaneo as indicated by the Mef will be the new CEO in place of Francesco Starace. The Treasury list – which holds 23.6% of the Enel group, obtained 49.1% of the votes, Assogestioni 43.49% and Covalis 6.9%. Not the season of owls – commented the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti – an excellent result has been achieved, better than three years ago, not simple and obvious, which rewards correctness and not impropriety. I wish the new top management and all the directors a good job.

The new board

No candidate was drawn from the Covalis list. This was announced by the outgoing chairman, Michele Crisostomo, during the shareholders’ meeting which was held in person with a stake of approximately 65% ​​of the capital, lower than the 70% of three years ago. Enel’s new board of directors is therefore made up of six MEF candidates – Fiammetta Salmoni, Paolo Scaroni, Flavio Cattaneo, Johanna Arbib, Alessandro Zehentner and Olga Cuccurullo – and the three candidates from the list presented by Assogestioni, i.e. Dario Frigerio, Alessandra Stabilini and Mario Courses.

Covalis speech

So the UK fund, which had failed to obtain the support of proxy advisors, did not manage to express at least one member of the board. So the first name on the list, the banker Carlo Mazzucchelli, was unable to participate in the election for the presidency. Shortly before, Fabrizio Arossa of the Covalis fund had spoken to the shareholders saying that Covalis by nature is not an activist fund, in Enel it has been a long-term investor for over 10 years and we sincerely thank the outgoing board and the workers for their work and results. We presented a list of independent advisers, an initiative not against but to encourage a transparent debate on the best governance to be given. And the ideal conditions to guarantee the strategy of national champion and international DNA. A new independent-led board that looks to the future and is inspired by the highest standards of best practice.

Starace’s farewell

With the renewal of the posts that took place on May 10, the career of Francesco Starace ended, who led the Enel group for three terms and – as he himself declared – worked for the company for 23 years. The transition – he said – represented one of the most important challenges, we were far-sighted and I would also like to say visionaries. We believed in it a lot, we know that it is neither the first nor the last industrial transformation ahead of us, we can already see the signs of what will come next. The critical spirit we have has allowed us to face all the changes with lucidity. The turbulence of the last few years has put a strain on our ability to respond but has demonstrated the resilience of our business model. The market has understood and appreciated our characteristics as demonstrated by the performance of the stock, which has gained 21.3% since the presentation of the plan in November. All the crises we have faced have materialized into opportunities, demonstrating that Enel’s strategy is adequate for dealing with different economic cycles. All the colleagues I’ve had in these 9 years who have been wonderful in terms of results but above all in how we got there, very united. I want to thank all colleagues for successes and achievements. Years lived with great satisfaction. Starace then said he was sure of the success of Enel who will come and wished the new board of directors best wishes.