As the end of the succession approaches, another billionaire power struggle is playing out in Italy.
To court in Turin, the matriarch of the Agnelli industrial family is trying to sue three of her children in a row over the huge fortune left by her late father.
Family feuds have gripped Italy and, depending on the results, could cause shock in one of the largest multinational empires in Europe.
The Agnelli family is behind a group that unites the interests of automakers such as Fiat, Vauxhall and Ferrari, the Juventus football club, the Italian newspapers La Repubblica. and La Stampa and The Economist.
The bitter dispute has its roots in the death of Gianni Agnelli, an industrial titan once known as the unofficial king of Italy.
After his death in 2003, members of his family, dubbed the Italian Kennedys, gathered to discuss the way forward.
Fiat, the business that made Agnelli's name and fortune, was in deep crisis. financial problems at the time. Banks were demanding €3bn (£2.6bn) of loans to be repaid, jeopardizing family control.
At the same time, a string of deaths broke the line of succession and created tensions over who is now will take responsibility.
Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen is suing her son John Elkann in an attempt to reopen a deal that saw her give up her claims to the business Agnelli's empire. Photo: Franco Origlia/WireImage. The «Geneva Pacts», which settled the issue of succession to the throne.
Under the terms of the deal, Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen, Gianni's daughter and only surviving child, walked away with a €1.2 billion settlement that included real estate, art and cash, but not shares in the holding company at the center of Agnelli's network.
Meanwhile, John Elkann, Marguerite's eldest son, has taken the keys to the kingdom, taking charge of the business ventures. At that time, the concern was worth only a few billion euros, and is now valued at more than 10 billion euros.
Ferrari chairman John Elkann has led the Agnelli family since 2004. Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images Europe
De Pahlen, 67, is trying to sue Elkann, 47, and her other two children by her first husband to reopen the 2004 race. deals. De Pahlen claims that she and her five children by her second husband were deceived from their legitimate inheritance.
Elkann and his allies say that this case is a fabrication and is intended to snip off a second piece of the fortune that he and others painstakingly restored after the death of his grandfather.
The empire left by Gianni Agnelli — a glamorous figure who considered Kennedy and Henry Kissinger friends — began to fade when he died of prostate cancer at the age of 81.
Fiat, the car company he built. into a global force, thanks in part to the success of models such as the massive Fiat 500, a loss of 4.3 billion euros was recorded in 2002, the largest ever.
Elkann helped revive the company through a series of major mergers. Stellantis, as the combined group is now known, is the world's eighth largest automaker, covering brands such as Peugeot, Chrysler, Citroen and Jeep.
Elkann was first named heir apparent in 1997, when he was just 21 a year after the untimely death of Giovanni Agnelli, de Palen's cousin, from stomach cancer.
Gianni's own son, Edoardo Agnelli, was never considered for the top job. He committed suicide in 2000 due to drug problems and depression.
Agnelli's family tree
In a 2004 agreement, de Pahlen agreed to transfer her 37 percent stake in Dicembre, the key holding company Agnelli, to his son Elkann for about 103 million euros, leaving him 60 percent.
De Palen was also informed of this. that her mother, Marella, planned to give her shares to Elkann, thereby overthrowing her in the inheritance hierarchy.
The shares Elkann received in December were instrumental in giving him control of Exor, the €19 billion giant that has large stakes in automotive giants Stellantis and Ferrari, as well as Juventus football club.
Unhappy with the fact that she and her second husband's children would be effectively excluded, De Pahlen later told Vanity Fair that she only agreed to her departure «in order to find peace.»
Her initial settlement included about $300 million in liquid assets, a huge residence next door to the presidential palace in Rome, the sprawling country estate of Villar Perosa near Turin, her father's summer residence in Corsica and a house in Paris, and part of an art collection worth $1 billion, which includes works by Francis Bacon, Paul Klee and Andy Warhol.
However, de Pahlen soon began campaigning to revise her father's will process, suspecting that all of his overseas assets were hidden from her. This led to her first lawsuits in the late 2000s.
After her mother's death in 2019, de Pahlen began to claim that her mother's claim that she was a Swiss resident was a hoax, undermining the legal basis. under which the Geneva pacts were concluded. This is important because Italian law prohibits such agreements.
Elkann allies take a very different view. They claim that de Pahlen, who has been gone for nearly two decades, is simply trying to get a bigger piece of the pie now that the Fiat business empire has rebounded.
They also claim that Marella Agnelli' her status as a resident of Switzerland was confirmed by the authorities after her death and in 2004, insisting that a legal result in which the pacts could be renewed was impossible.
Gianni Agnelli built an industrial empire that made him known as the unofficial king of Italy. Photo: Chip HIRES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
“In 2004, Ms. De Pahlen signed a definitive inheritance agreement with her mother, as they were both residents of Switzerland. , a fact recognized by the Italian authorities,” says a person close to the Elkanns.
“Swiss authorities have confirmed Marella Agnelli's residence permit in Switzerland after her death in 2019. Ms. De Pahlen's desire to have this case reopened is simply an attempt on her part to obtain an unreasonable additional financial advantage and is without merit.»
De Pahlen was asked to comment but did not respond.
Elkann, who guards his privacy and rarely gives interviews, previously said he was «hurt like a son and surprised» by his mother's actions. The couple do not speak.
Judges in Turin are expected to decide whether de Palena's case can be heard in the coming weeks. However, as a parallel legal battle continues in Switzerland, questions are being raised about whether the Italian courts have first jurisdiction.
Paolo Griseri, a business journalist at Rome's La Repubblica who has followed Agnellis for decades, believes that the outcome of the case does not ultimately pose a threat to Elkann's position.
«No one in the family is willing to question John Elkann's leadership,» he adds.
Nonetheless, for for many, though, in Italy the real-life drama of the succession to the throne is fascinating in that it offers a rare window into the country's unofficial first family.
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