Italian insurer Cattolica ousts CEO over strategy differences

MILAN (Reuters) – The board of Cattolica Assicurazioni has ousted Chief Executive Alberto Minali citing differences over the company’s structure, strategy, relations with shareholders and the market, the company said on Thursday.

It said all of the chief executive’s powers had been transferred to the insurer’s Managing Director Carlo Ferraresi.

Minali, a former CFO at bigger rival Generali , had been at the helm of Cattolica since June 1, 2017. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has a 9% stake in Cattolica, Italy’s fifth largest insurer by gross premiums, according to calculations by investment bank Mediobanca.

A source close to the matter said Minali had been at odds for some time with Cattolica’s chairman, Paolo Bedoni, on a number of issues including the possibility of transforming the cooperative insurer into a joint stock company – a plan backed by Minali but opposed by Bedoni.

Minali’s stance towards the board of directors had become “neither smooth nor positive”, the company said in a statement.

It was not immediately possible to reach Minali for comment.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Andrea Mandala, editing by Silvia Aloisi and Alexandra Hudson)