2025 Shareholders' Meeting Season and Perspectives. Towards reforms

The 2025 Annual Shareholders' Meeting Season and future outlook on the path to reform were the focus of the event organized by Chiomenti in collaboration with Georgeson.

The 2025 Annual Shareholders' Meeting Season and future outlook on the path to reform were the focus of the event organized by Chiomenti in collaboration with Georgeson, which was held on July 3rd at the Chiomenti Auditorium in Milan.
It was an important opportunity to discuss the main trends in corporate governance and the prospects for the evolution and reform of the Italian regulatory and financial framework, thanks to the presence of investors, issuers, institutions and market operators.

Following the opening remarks by Gregorio Consoli, Managing Partner Chiomenti, and Stefano Marini, Senior Advisor Georgeson, the event began with a presentation of the 2025 AGM results by Francesco Surace, Head of Corporate Governance Italy Georgeson. The analysis showed that the Shareholders' Meetings of listed companies are increasingly well-attended, reaching a record participation level of 73% in 2025 (compared to 70.9% in 2024 and 68.9% in 2021). At the same time, investors have shown increasing independence in their voting behavior, often diverging from proxy advisor recommendations. Executive remuneration policies remain a key issue, as they intersect with the relationship between the Shareholders' Meeting and the Board of Directors.

During his keynote speech, Paolo Valensise, Partner Chiomenti and Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Roma Tre, shared reflections on the outcomes of the Annual Meeting Season. The growing attendance at Italian listed companies’ Meetings suggests that the use of the designated representative regime has not hindered shareholder participation but has instead supported its growth. Regarding remuneration policies, the current regulation proposes interesting ideas to make the instrument more efficient, without undermining the main element of information transparency.

Federico Freni, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, discussed the prospects for reform of the “Testo Unico della Finanza” in an interview conducted by Fabio Tamburini, Editor-in-Chief of Il Sole 24 Ore. He emphasized how the reform could help align the Italian market with others by harmonizing rules and simplifying market access. The goal is to introduce a framework consistent with European standards while respecting the specific peculiarities of the Italian context.

The main challenges facing the Italian financial market were further explored in an interview with Marco Osnato, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, also conducted by Fabio Tamburini. Osnato reiterated the government’s intention to reduce the capital gains tax on equity investments from 26% to 20%, aiming to make Italy more attractive to both domestic and foreign investors.

The results and trends from the 2025 Annual Shareholders' Meeting Season were further discussed in a roundtable featuring Agostino Nuzzolo, General Counsel at Telecom, Federica Soro, Research Manager for Mediterranean Europe at Glass Lewis, Patrick Fiorani, Deputy Head of Voting at Amundi, and Maria Carmela Falcone, Of Counsel Chiomenti, moderated by Lorenzo Casale, Head of Market Italy at Georgeson.

Finally, the developments and future market evolutions were addressed by the Chairs of three leading Italian companies: Alessandra Bruni for ENAV, Paolo Ciocca for Italgas, and Barbara Marinali for Acea, in a session moderated by Italo De Santis, Partner Chiomenti.