Shareholders approve merger of Fonsai, Unipol

(ANSA) – Bologna, October 25 – Shareholders on Friday gave final approval to a merger combining insurer Fonsai with other insurance giants including Unipol.

The four-way deal, approved at an extraordinary meeting by shareholders controlling 62% of capital, approved the deal involving Premafin Finanziaria, Unipol Assicurazioni and Milano Assicurazioni.

Fonsai, officially known as Fondiaria-Sai, has been in the public eye since the arrest of former majority owner Salvatore Ligresti, several members of his family and executives of the insurance firm on suspicious of false accounting and market manipulation practices. A trial date has been scheduled for December for Ligresti and several other suspects. The case has focused on accounting irregularities that enabled Ligresti, according to the indictment, to acquire illegal dividends of 200 million euros. The Ligresti family are the former majority owners of both the Fonsai and Milano Assicurazioni insurance companies. The two companies almost collapsed last year before the deal with Unipol was structured.