Italy’s Meloni Ousts Leonardo CEO, Renews Heads of Eni, Enel
(Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ousted the chief executive officer of Leonardo SpA, the state-backed aerospace and defense contractor, while retaining CEOs at energy firms Eni SpA and Enel SpA.
Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani will be replaced by Lorenzo Mariani, a company veteran who’s currently a senior executive at missile-maker MBDA Missile Systems Services SAS, Italy’s Finance Ministry said late Thursday. The government renewed the terms of Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi and Enel’s Flavio Cattaneo for another three years.
Meloni is recalibrating leadership at state-controlled firms ahead of a re-election campaign set to take place by the end of next year. A polling setback last month weakened the premier and prompted changes in her cabinet, heightening attention on this round of executive appointments.
Cingolani’s departure, after a turnaround at Leonardo that’s been welcomed by investors, underscores the pressure on Meloni to reassert power after the referendum on judicial reform she supported was soundly rejected at the polls. Opponents had urged voters to show their dissatisfaction with her leadership, and the outcome weakened the premier politically.
Leonardo shares, which have declined this week over reports of the pending CEO change, fell as much as 2.4% in Milan on Friday.
Italy owns significant stakes in a number of public and non-public companies considered strategic to the country’s security interests. The government exerts control through board majorities and proposes the CEOs on a three-year cycle. Its nominations require shareholder approvals.
On Thursday, the government also moved to switch the CEO of electricity grid operator Terna SpA, Giuseppina Di Foggia, to the role of board chair at oil and gas group Eni.
Di Foggia’s replacement at Terna is expected to be the current CEO at air-traffic controller Enav SpA, Pasqualino Monti. The finance ministry on Thursday proposed Igor de Biasio, the current chairman of Terna, to be CEO of Enav.
Poste Italiane SpA CEO Matteo Del Fante was nominated for a fourth term on April 2.
Leonardo Turnaround
Cingolani, 64, was appointed in 2023 by Meloni, and his position was initially seen as safe as his term came up for renewal. The former government minister presided over a 28% increase in revenue from 2023 to 2025, and the stock has risen fivefold as he repositioned Leonardo as a consolidator in the fast-changing European defense sector.
People who have worked with him have described Cingolani as an independent thinker, an approach that sits at odds with Meloni’s tightly controlled management style.
He formed a tank alliance with Germany’s Rheinmetall AG and a drone partnership with Turkey’s Baykar Technologies, while moving ahead on a satellite venture with Airbus SE and Thales SA. Cingolani also acquired the defense business of Italy’s Iveco Group NV, while exiting some businesses and working to develop an air-defense system for Europe.
Activist investor Guy Wyser-Pratte blasted the reported plan to replace him, telling Bloomberg News this week, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Mariani, the current head of MBDA’s Italian operations, spent more than three decades at Leonardo. He has held senior roles including chief commercial officer, CEO of Leonardo International and head of its defense electronics division. MBDA is a joint venture owned by Airbus, BAE Systems Plc and Leonardo.
“We see the appointment of Mr Mariani as new CEO of Leonardo like an internal solution which should suggest continuity in the group’s strategy,” Banca Akros analyst Andrea Belloli said in a note.
Meloni, who heads the Brothers of Italy party, has been negotiating for weeks on corporate appointments with her two coalition partners, Matteo Salvini’s League and Antonio Tajani’s Forza Italia. She had initially sought continuity, but the election loss forced a reassessment. Concurrently, the Iran war has strained Italy’s economy, driving up energy costs for businesses and consumers.
Together, the setbacks have prompted the premier to implement changes in order to project a sense of control and power, including a replacement of Italy’s tourism minister. Bloomberg reported last month that changes were afoot at state-backed companies, including at Leonardo, while Eni’s Descalzi appeared safe.
The choices offer insight into Meloni’s priorities for strategic sectors, and will play a key role in shaping the 49-year-old premier’s economic agenda as she seeks a second term in elections expected by the end of next year.
Meloni left intact leadership at Italy’s two biggest energy firms, where she’s sought to ease the impact of fuel-price spikes and the economic slowdown triggered by the Iran war.
Descalzi’s confirmation extends his tenure at Eni to more than a decade. The group plays a central role in Italy’s foreign policy, particularly in securing energy supplies in North Africa and expanding in Asia and Latin America.
Enel’s Cattaneo is expected to continue his strategy of debt reduction and refocusing the utility on core markets.
At Terna, Di Foggia was investing aggressively to fortify the grid for greater demands tied to AI and the energy transition. Her replacement as CEO will be tasked with seeing those projects through.
(Updates with Friday’s trading from fifth paragraph, adds analyst comment.)
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