Eni has proposed Stefano Cao as the next chief executive officer of Italian oil service company Saipem, to replace Umberto Vergine at a shareholder meeting in April.

Furthermore, Eni, which holds 43 percent stake in Saipem, approved the proposal of the following candidates for appointment to Saipem’s Board of Directors: Paolo Andrea Colombo, Maria Elena Cappello, Francesco Antonio Ferrucci, Flavia Mazzarella and Stefano Siragusa.

“Stefano Cao is the candidate who possesses the specific professional skills for the appointment as CEO of the company,” said Eni in a statement.

Cao was born in Rome in 1951, and graduated in Mechanical Engineering. He began his career with the ENI group in 1976, initially with Saipem, which he left in 2000 as executive chairman and subsequently at ENI, which he left in 2008 as chief operating officer of the exploration & production division.

He serves as a non-executive director at Petrofac, a director at Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. and Aeroporti di Roma S.p.A. and is a member of the advisory board of Ambienta SGR.

At Saipem’s Shareholders’ Meeting, Eni will also submit the following proposals to shareholders:

- to appoint Paolo Andrea Colombo as Chairman of the Board of Directors;

- to determine the gross annual remuneration payable to each Director at € 60,000, plus reimbursement of expenses incurred;

- to appoint Giulia De Martino as alternate Statutory Auditor.