Italy's Benetton family wants to increase its stake in Generali and believes that Europe's third-biggest insurer must remain in Italian hands, Luciano Benetton said in an interview published in La Repubblica. Luciano is one of the four siblings who founded the Benetton industrial empire, which ranges from the eponymous clothing company to the infrastructure group Atlantia.
Edizione, the Benetton family holding company, emerged as an Italian buttress against foreign takeovers of Generali, after increasing its stake in the insurer together with Italian entrepreneurs Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Leonardo Del Vecchio. "With Caltagirone and Del Vecchio, together we make a good Italian front. We have a sizeable Italian stake that, all three together, we want to increase", Benetton said.