By Liam Moloney
ROME--Italy's new premier, Matteo Renzi, Monday named a slate of
bosses at Italy's biggest state-controlled groups, in one of the
first tests of his promise to deliver economic change.
Mr. Renzi, who swept to power in February, announced the names
of new chief executives at Eni SpA and Enel SpA, among the
country's biggest companies, as well as key groups such as defense
group Finmeccanica SpA and Italy's post office, which is scheduled
to be privatized later this year.
The nomination process at Italy's state companies has always
been the subject of intense debate because of the outsize role
still played by the groups, which together make up one-third of the
Italian stock market. Mr. Renzi, who has shot to prominence on his
outsider status, has taken aim at the political horse trading that
has long conditioned the choice of the leaders of state
companies.
In a mix of continuity and change, the Renzi government
announced that it would replace Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni
with his No. 2 executive, Claudio Descalzi, while Enel CEO Fulvio
Conti would be replaced by Francesco Starace, another longtime
executive at the electricity utility.
Rome also named women to replace chairmen at the two companies
as part of an effort in the country to include more women on boards
of companies. The government is the biggest shareholder of Eni and
Enel, with stakes of 30% and 31%, respectively, giving it the power
to effectively pick the board members.
With a raft of executives reaching the end of their three-year
terms, Mr. Renzi, 39 years old, pledged to select new corporate
leaders based on transparency and merit. The companies'
shareholders are slated to approve the nominations next month.
"Here is a team of professionals of great quality...who will
surely work to reach ambitious strategic targets of companies that
represent fundamental assets for the country," Mr. Renzi said after
the nominations.
Mr. Scaroni, 67, had been fighting for a fourth three-year term,
but his chances appeared to wane at the end of March when he
received a suspended three-year jail term for environmental
violations occurring during his leadership of Enel about a decade
ago. Mr. Scaroni said he will appeal.
Mr. Scaroni had helped transform Eni into a pure oil and gas
company by shedding its regulated natural gas business and pouring
money into exploration. The investment paid off with the company's
first of a series of large gas discoveries from 2012 in offshore
Mozambique--its largest find ever--as well as the Republic of Congo
and new Asian markets such as Pakistan.
But at the same time, Mr. Scaroni's bet on the massive Kashagan
project in Kazakhstan has run into huge cost overruns and years of
delay. The company has also been bogged down by unrest in Libya,
its single biggest producing country.
As new CEO, Mr. Descalzi, a 59-year-old executive who joined Eni
in 1981 before rising to the head of exploration and production in
2008, must now push ahead with the development of Eni's big
discoveries. He must also manage Eni's close ties to gas company
OAO Gazprom amid growing tensions between Russia and Europe and the
U.S. over the Ukraine crisis.
"Our achievements while he was COO of the E&P division speak
for themselves, and I strongly endorse his nomination," said Mr.
Scaroni in an emailed statement to The Wall Street Journal.
The government also named Emma Marcegaglia as Eni's new
chairwoman, replacing Giuseppe Recchi, a former General Electric
Co. executive who is expected to become chairman of Telecom Italia
SpA.
At Enel, the government tapped Francesco Starace, 58, as CEO,
turning to another company insider who heads renewables company
Enel Green Power SpA. Mr. Starace replace Fulvio Conti, 66, who,
like Mr. Scaroni, had also hoped to be given a fourth three-year
term.
Mr. Conti transformed Enel from an almost pure Italian player to
an international one thanks to its acquisition of Spain's Endesa SA
in 2007, which gave it a strong presence in Latin America. But the
deal left Enel saddled with debt. Mr. Starace must now strike a
balance between cutting the debt and continuing to invest in
promising markets, particularly Latin America, to offset slow
growth in Italy and Spain.
The government's candidate as chairwoman is Patrizia Grieco, who
will replace Paolo Andrea Colombo.
The government named Francesco Caio as new chief of Italy's
postal service, Poste Italiane SpA, which is entirely controlled by
the state, replacing Massimo Sarmi, who has turned the company
around since taking the helm in 2002. He more than doubled the
postal service's revenue to EUR26 billion ($35.9 billion) from 2002
to 2013, by aggressively pushing financial services.
The government plans to sell up to a 40% stake later this year,
hoping to raise as much as EUR5 billion in one of the biggest
Italian privatizations in years.
Mr. Renzi appointed Mauro Moretti as new chief of Finmeccanica,
replacing Alessandro Pansa. Mr. Moretti must continue the deep
ongoing restructuring at Finmeccanica, aimed at focusing more
tightly on defense and aerospace and paying down some EUR3 billion
in debt.
Poste and Finmeccanica had no comments to make on the
nominations.
Not all approve of the new government's decision to make such
radical board changes.
"I don't agree with the principle of wiping the slate clean at
all the companies: Some executives needed to go while others could
have stayed," said Marco Giorgino, professor at the MIP Polytechnic
of Milan. "The policy of starting from scratch isn't necessarily
the wisest."
Manuela Mesco and Gilles Castonguay contributed to this
article.
Write to Liam Moloney at liam.moloney@wsj.com
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