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* Renzi seeking change at top in Italy
* Government outspoken against corruption
* Boards must be renewed every three years
By Stephen Jewkes
MILAN, April 8 (Reuters) - The government of Matteo Renzi islooking to wipe the slate clean and seek new names at Italy'smain state-controlled groups including oil major Eni as top management comes up for renewal, government, politicaland industry sources said.
New centre-left Prime Minister Renzi, nicknamed 'DemolitionMan' for his campaigning for generational change in Italy, cameto power in February promising to shake up the country's cosyelites and breathe fresh air into an ageing establishment.
His government has spoken out against widespread corruptionand poor corporate accountability, calling on state controlledcompanies to eject from their boards any director charged with financial crimes.
The 39-year-old Renzi has kept his cards close to his chest on the names that will be proposed as early as this weekend toreplace top executives at the likes of Eni, utility Enel and defence group Finmeccanica.
The boards and top managers of these groups are renewedevery three years at shareholder meetings typically held in May.The government, as main shareholder, must present its list ofnominees at least 25 days before.
One government source told Reuters the positions of Eni CEOPaolo Scaroni and Enel's boss Fulvio Conti, both veterans in theenergy sector, looked particularly shaky while political sourcessaid Renzi was looking for new faces.
None of Italy's major state firms, controlled through stakesheld by the treasury and state lender CDP, are headed byforeigners or women, with relatively few women directors.
TERM TOO FAR?
Scaroni, at the helm of Eni since 2005, has already servedthree terms and has said he would like to do a fourth.
In his nine years in power, Scaroni, a former CEO at Enel,has won plaudits for selling off non core assets to cut debt andfund upstream growth that in 2011 saw the group make its biggestever gas discovery, in Mozambique.
But setbacks in Africa and Kazakhstan have slowed productiongrowth while profits and the share price are lower than when hefirst arrived. The 67-year-old executive was also dragged into aprobe last year into alleged corruption at Eni subsidiary Saipemin Algeria and was sentenced to jail for violating environmentalnorms while CEO at Enel. He denies any wrongdoing in both casesand is appealing against the jail sentence.
"I like what Scaroni has done. I would like to see himreconfirmed but I can see problems with the Saipem probe andRenzi's generational drive," said Roberto Lottici, a fundmanager at Ifigest. Eni is 3 percent of his portfolio.
The government is also keen to see a reduction in salariespaid to state firm managers. Scaroni, one of the highest paid,grossed 4.55 million euros in 2013.
Renzi's comments that he will listen to the market in hischoice have focused minds on big guns like Vodafone's Vittorio Colao and Luxottica's Andrea Guerra. Eniupstream chief Claudio Descalzi is also a candidate, a financialsource said.
CRUELEST MONTH
But April could be a difficult month for other statemanagers. Like Scaroni, 66-year-old Fulvio Conti was firstappointed CEO of utility Enel by former prime minister SilvioBerlusconi and is looking for his fourth mandate in charge.
It was Conti who engineered the internationalisation of Enelwith the multi-billion euro acquisition of Spain's Endesa. Thedeal was transformational, turning Enel into a major Europeanplayer overnight. But it also saddled it with mountains of debtand when the economic crisis hit home the utility was forced tocut dividends. Enel shares have fallen some 33 percent since2005.
An Italian ministerial source said Francesco Starace, headof renewable unit Enel Green Power, or Enel CFO LuigiFerraris, both market favourites, could win the top spot.
Alessandro Pansa, at Finmeccanica since 2001, was promotedto CEO at the group last year to replace Giuseppe Orsi, who wasarrested on corruption allegations.
With the group weakened by scandals and a heavy debt burden,Pansa's days could be numbered with Giuseppe Giordo, currenthead of the group's Alenia unit, and former Telecom Italiachairman Franco Bernabe mooted as possible successors. (Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; Additional reporting by PaoloBiondi and Danilo Masoni; Editing by Lisa Jucca and GilesElgood)
