Mereghetti ready to return: who is the banker who brought Mustier to UniCredit

It turns out that Mereghetti was the first employee (it seems that he still retains the badge with serial number 001). Over the years, Ubm has become a reservoir of profits for the group, it makes room in the IMI and Mediobanca duopoly and only after six years it is sold for 2.4 billion euros, having a market share of over 50% in Italian investment banking. For Mereghetti, who was mainly involved in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets, it was the golden years of the innumerable operations developed and put to the mark, often in line with the friend (Milanist) Maurizio Tamagnini, who at the time was number one of Merrill Lynch for Italy (now at the helm of the asset management company that directs the investment choices of the Cdp Strategic Fund).

After a few years and passed the phase of Ubm and Profumo, the new CEO of UniCredit Federico Ghizzoni also decided to focus on Mereghetti for the first line of the corporate & investment banking division. In the twenty years between Piazza Cordusio and the new headquarters in Piazza Gae Aulenti, Mereghetti has participated in the realization of significant deals. For the Benetton Edition since the time of the privatization of Autostrade and then the birth of SchemaVentotto and the maxi-alliance with Abertis.

The relationship with the De Agostini family of the Boroli-Drago families (they have just co-opted it in the DeaCapital board of directors), of which it followed the purchase, listing and then sale of Toro Assicurazioni up to Lottomatica and then the GTech operation, was also longstanding.

Long-time consultant for the Berlusconi's Fininvest (capital increase of Mondadori) and the Camfin-Pirelli of Marco Tronchetti Provera (from the deal with Clessidra to Rosneft to ChemChina and then Pirelli's return to the stock market). And again the consolidated relations with Delfin, the safe of the knight Del Vecchio, and Luxottica, with the Charme fund of Montezemolo, with the fund F2i, with Erg dei Garrone, with the Ferrero (acquisition of Ferrara Candy in the US). And again: the restructuring and listing of Bertelli's Prada and ChemChina's take over on Syngenta in Switzerland by 50 billion Swiss francs, probably the largest transaction ever made by UniCredit. In many cases by entering, on behalf of UniCredit, into the board of directors of the companies' (F2i, Erg, Pirelli, Prelios, …). He is esteemed and has good relations with everyone even if he hates mediocrity. His colleagues say that "in your office it is better to go prepared otherwise the meetings last 5 minutes".

Needless to say, the exit from UniCredit, confessed to some friends, left a bitter taste in his mouth. For different reasons. The main one is that, although occasionally, Mereghetti was the facilitator of the Mustier landing in UniCredit. Not everyone knows or remembers that when the bank's board decided to replace the CEO Federico Ghizzoni, the first choice was the former UniCredit Sergio Ermotti (already CEO of Ubs). He was contacted personally by Mereghetti, appointed by advisers and shareholders for his past together in the corporate and investment banking division. Ermotti said no.