Italy's Palenzona resigns as Fondazione CRT chairman

ROME (Reuters) - Fabrizio Palenzona, an influential figure in Italian finance, has tendered his resignation as chairman of Fondazione CRT, an investor in both UniCredit and Generali, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The resignation follows a boardroom clash in recent days within the not-for-profit foundation, where Palenzona was elected chairman exactly a year ago.

In the resignation letter, excerpts of which were seen by Reuters, Palenzona said the events had made it impossible for him to stay on.

During his tenure, Fondazione CRT sold its entire 1.8% stake in Banco BPM, in a surprise move that yielded an estimated 80 million euro ($86 million) capital gain.

Following the divestment, CRT rounded up its stake in Generali to around 2%, a level Palenzona said at the time would be maintained, while he ruled out any changes in CRT's 1.9% UniCredit stake.

The sale of the BPM stake appeared to signal a shift in Palenzona's strategy compared to when he began his tenure and advocated a merger between Banco BPM and UniCredit, saying a deal would have "strategic value".

For roughly two decades Palenzona was vice chairman at UniCredit and is seen as close to the bank's current Chief Executive Andrea Orcel.

He is also chairman of Prelios, a credit manager that is being acquired by ION Group in a 1.3 billion euro deal being vetted by the Bank of Italy.

($1 = 0.9376 euros)

(Reporting by Valentina Za, Editing by Giulia Segreti and Barbara Lewis)