October 25, 2007 (LPAC)--"London moves on Generali," "The Lion and the Locusts," "Funds attack Generali", are some of the headlines today in the Italian media, commenting on the newest cannibalization war among the British financial caymans. The story is that the same hedge fund group that took over ABN-Amro is now moving to feed on the Italian insurance Generali, which is currently the largest western insurance group in China. The move is important not only because Generali is the third largest European insurance group, but it has been an historical stronghold of Anglo-French-Venetian oligarchies. Currently, Generali still represents the Lazard-Mediobanca alliance, which was cemented toward the end of WWII between Mediobanca founder Enrico Cuccia and Lazard founder Andre Meyer. Mediobanca is the clearing house for Franco-Italian business families, and is the largest shareholder of Generali, with a stake of 14%. Generali's chairman is Antoine Bernheim, Meyer's successor at Lazard. A recent new entry in Mediobanca was Vincent Bolloré, one of the owners of Sarkozy.

The hedge funds moving on Generali are Tci and Algebris, which share the same address in London and are connected to the Royal Bank of Scotland, sent an aggressive letter to Generali's CEO complaining about low returns, the high wages for Bernheim, and most of all the "conflict of interests" with Mediobanca. "Yesterday evening in Trieste, questions were raised and even suspicions on who are the real players in the game", Corriere della Sera reported.

The Financial Crimes, reflecting their love of British East Indies Company tactics, says that the financial vampires, Tci and Algebris, are worried that the Italian government, through the increased presence of banker Cesare Geronzi on Mediobanca's board, will have an undesired influence on the Mediobanca-Generali group.