Stellantis and Ferrari boss take on his own mother in Agnelli’s legacy drama AllNews

MILAN, Italy – A court in Turin will rule in the coming weeks on an inheritance dispute between the Agnelli family, the founders of the Fiat car company and perhaps the most famous of Italy’s business dynasties.

The suitcase comes from the estate of Gianni Agnelli, the celebrated Fiat boss who symbolized Italy’s post-war economic boom and who died two decades ago.

It pits Agnelli’s daughter Margherita, who inherited 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), against three of her eight children, including her eldest, John Elkann, the chairman of Ferrari and automaker Stellantis.

In the dispute that has torn apart one of Italy’s elite families, Margherita is fighting to reverse agreements she signed after her father’s death to ultimately benefit her five children from a second marriage, sources close to her say.

Should the Turin court rule in her favor, Margherita, who is 67 and the only surviving child of Gianni Agnelli, could claim half of her late mother’s estate and a share in the Elkann family business.

The center of the dispute

The dispute has its roots in a legacy agreement known as the “Geneva Pacts” that Margherita, an artist and philanthropist, signed in 2004 after her father’s death the previous year and agreed to as Fiat was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Under the first pact, Margherita received property, artwork, and other liquid assets from Gianni’s estate and relinquished any future influence in the Dicembre company (December), a key part of the ownership structure of Exor, the Agnelli family’s holding company.

The pacts cemented John Elkann’s position as Gianni Agnelli’s chosen successor and effectively removed his mother Margherita from the equation.

John Elkann, 47, now runs Exor, which owns parts of prestigious companies and brands, including national newspapers and the Juventus football club.

The second pact dealt with what would happen to the estate of Margherita’s mother Marella, who died in 2019 at the age of 91.

Marella passed on her Dicembre interest to three of her grandchildren, John, his brother Lapo, and sister Ginevra, from Margherita’s first marriage to journalist Alain Elkann.

Margherita wants the pacts to be dissolved to give her children with second husband Serge De Pahlen, a Franco-Russian former Fiat executive, a share of their grandmother’s estate, sources close to her say.

Margherita also states that her father’s unreported wealth was discovered after his death and she is entitled to a share of it along with other family members.

A source on Margherita’s side rejected suggestions that the initial settlement covered the possibility of further hidden assets from Gianni Agnelli’s estate being found.

Switzerland or Italy?

Marella’s death sparked the legal claim at the heart of the case opened three years ago in Turin, the home of Fiat and traditional base for the Agnelli clan.

It is the latest in a series of inheritance lawsuits that have spanned Switzerland and Italy over the past 15 years.

Margherita’s lawyers in Turin argue that the “Geneva Pacts” should be annulled because they were signed on the basis that Marella’s residence was in Switzerland, which they dispute. Italian law prohibits such inheritance agreements.

Documents submitted by Margherita’s lawyers to the Turin court, which have been reviewed by Reuters and include reports from private investigators, allege that Marella never spent more than four months a year in Switzerland from 2003 to 2019 and should not have qualified as a resident of Switzerland. Switzerland .

Sources close to the Elkann camp claim that both Swiss and Italian authorities confirmed Marella Agnelli’s status as a Swiss resident when she died in 2019 and also in 2004 when the inheritance agreement was signed.

The source on Margherita’s side disputes that interpretation.

Shares in the company

After Marella’s death, John Elkann has a 60% share in the Dicembre holding company, while brother Lapo and sister Ginevra have 20% each. Dicembre is at the heart of a web of companies spanning the Agnelli family’s massive investments.

It is the largest shareholder, with a 38% stake, in Giovanni Agnelli BV, which groups approximately 100 shareholders representing approximately 200 living descendants of original Fiat founder Giovanni Agnelli.

Giovanni Agnelli BV in turn has a controlling interest of 53% in the listed company Exor, which has interests in Stellantis, Ferrari and Juventus.

The sources close to the Elkanns claim that there is no legal outcome that can reverse the transfer of the shares in Dicembre to the Elkanns. Margherita’s claims are aimed at obtaining unjustified further financial advantage, they say.

A verdict is due in Turin before the summer recess, but it may not be the end of an affair that has estranged Margherita from her first three children.

Italy’s judges have the option of staying their verdict pending a ruling by a Swiss court in a parallel case on the legality of the Geneva pacts.