Intesa CEO Jokes He’d Step In If Orcel Tried to Buy Generali (1)

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA Chief Executive Officer Carlo Messina said he’d urge his peer at UniCredit SpA to slow down if he were to continue on his recent deals spree by launching a takeover offer for the country’s biggest insurance company, Assicurazioni Generali SpA.

“If UniCredit really decided to bid for Generali, I’d call Andrea Orcel and tell him to stop,” Messina responded one the sidelines of a conference in Milan when asked by a journalist about the purely hypothetical scenario. His smile indicated that he wasn’t being entirely serious.

Carlo Messina

Photographer: Francesca Volpi/Bloomberg

Messina, who runs Italy’s largest bank by assets, has ...