Italy's insurer Generali to return up to $7 bn to investors under new plan

Italy's top insurer Generali on Wednesday pledged to return up to 6.1 billion euros ($7 billion) in dividends and buybacks to shareholders as Chief Executive Philippe Donnet presented a new strategy to 2024.

Donnet, whose permanence at the helm has been called into question due to a clash among Generali's top three shareholders, also earmarked up to 3 billion euros for mergers and acquisitions in insurance and asset management.

Generali targets an average earnings per share growth of 6-8% a year under the new plan, it said in a statement.

Donnet's strategy won 11 votes out of 13 on Generali's board, two sources close to the matter said late on Tuesday.

Generali's second-largest shareholder, Italian magnate Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, voted against while a representative for Leonardo Del Vecchio, another top investor, did not attend the meeting, the sources said.

Caltagirone and Del Vecchio, the billionaire founder of eyewear giant Luxottica, have challenged Donnet's leadership and his reappointment in April which is backed instead by a majority of board members and Generali's biggest investor Mediobanca. 

($1 = 0.8875 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; editing by Valentina Za)