CIR Group: Passing Wealth through the Generations

Rodolfo, Marco, and Edoardo De Benedetti had received from their father his controlling shares in COFIDE, a publicly listed holding company that held 45.8% of CIR Group, another publicly listed holding. The latter held majority shares in GEDI, Italy’s largest print media, radio, and digital group, Sogefi, an auto component manufacturer and KOS, a home-care and hospital manager. Rodolfo had spent his entire career in CIR Group, which he had managed as CEO for 20 years. Edoardo, a cardiologist, had never worked in the family business, while Marco, now the head of Carlyle Europe, a private equity investment company, had worked in the family business for a few years but had developed a career mainly outside of the family business. The transfer of the shares’ ownership had tightened the three brothers’ bonds and had increased Marco and Edoardo’s interest in the business. The brothers had in total seven children. What should the three brothers do strategically with the company and how should they address the generational transfer? Did it make sense for the brothers to plan on passing their majority ownership of COFIDE (a publicly listed company) to the next generation? Would their children be interested in being actively involved in the Group? How to manage all that?