...June 26, 2020 MILAN (S&P Global Ratings) June 26, 2020--S&P Global Ratings said today that Societa Cattolica di Assicurazione (Cattolica; financial strength rating ###/Negative/--) is better placed to successfully execute on its recapitalization plan thanks to a new agreement with Assicurazione Generali (not rated). On June 25, 2020, Cattolica entered a strategic agreement in which Generali commits a 300 million capital increase in Cattolica for a 24% stake in the company. The focus of this new agreement is on generating revenue and cost synergies. Nevertheless, Generali's commitment hinges on Cattolica's cooperative member-shareholders agreeing to change the insurer's legal status to a public company from the current cooperative legal status. The current status caps each members to one vote, regardless of the number of shares held in Cattolica. We continue to believe that we could narrow the notching on Cattolica's hybrids if we saw a sustainable and significant increase in the company's...
