A legal dispute over the inheritance of Gianni Agnelli, Italy's most prominent postwar industrialist, has been suspended by a Turin court. The case has pitted Stellantis NV and Ferrari NV Chairman John Elkann against his mother, Margherita Agnelli, who has challenged inheritance agreements made with her father and mother. Margherita Agnelli claims that certain inheritance pacts that closed out her position in the family business should not be valid as her mother was a legal resident of Italy, not Switzerland, at the time of her death. As Italian law does not allow inheritance rights to be waived before death, Margherita Agnelli's claims could alter the provisions of the inheritance.
The stakes in the case could potentially include control of Dicembre Societa Semplice, the Elkann siblings' holding which sits at the top of the Agnellis' chain of investments. This disputed holding controls Giovanni Agnelli BV, which in turn sits atop the listed Exor NV. Giovanni Agnelli BV's stake in Exor is worth around €10 billion ($10.7 billion).
This is not the first time that Margherita Agnelli has contested her father's will. She has spent over 10 years disputing provisions that were only made for her half-siblings, John, Lapo and Ginevra Elkann. Margherita Agnelli has five children from her second marriage to former Fiat manager, Serge de Pahlen.
The court ruled that the case should be suspended until the trials currently underway in Switzerland are concluded. However, the Turin court rejected an Elkann request for the Italian proceedings to be dismissed entirely, shifting the full case to Switzerland.
Ferrari Chairman John Elkann is the handpicked successor of longtime Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli. The Elkann family controls Amsterdam-based Exor, which controls Ferrari and CNH Industrial NV. Exor is the biggest investor in Stellantis.
Margherita Agnelli and a spokesperson for John Elkann both declined to comment. Margherita Agnelli sold her 37.5% stake in Dicembre for about €105 million after her father's death in 2003, but later sought to nullify the agreement after Fiat was revived by Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne.