UniCredit CEO says likely to withdraw offer for Banco BPM
ROME - The chief executive of UniCredit said in a newspaper interview on Friday the Italian bank was likely to withdraw its offer for smaller peer Banco BPM.
Andrea Orcel told daily La Repubblica that his bank would continue to try to overcome the obstacles posed by the Italian government, under so-called 'golden power' conditions, and court appeals.
"But if we don't manage to resolve (the problems), as is probable, we will withdraw," he said.
Orcel said UniCredit was doing all it could to meet terms set by Rome for the bid to go ahead, including exiting its activities in Russia, something also requested by the European Central Bank, but this was no easy task.
"We have done more than was requested by the ECB," he said, adding that no other bank had reduced its activities in Russia as much as UniCredit, and that no buyer had come forward that was acceptable "either to Russia or to the West."
UniCredit has set aside capital to face potential losses should its Russian assets be nationalized, Orcel said.
A bid for another UniCredit takeover target, Germany's Commerzbank, has met opposition from Germany's government as well as the lender itself, and Orcel said for now his bank would remain as an investor and "closely watch (Commerzbank's) transformation path."
In the meantime, UniCredit would continue to outperform the rest of the banking sector regardless of mergers and acquisitions.
"Our future is very bright with or without M&A," Orcel said.
The UniCredit boss also said his bank had reported to market regulator Consob suspected anomalies in the government's sale of a 15% stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena to a small group of investors in November.
"We tried it take part (in the sale) but we could not manage," Orcel said.
UniCredit flagged the fact that asset manager Anima participated while it was subject to a so-called passivity rule as a takeover target for Banco BPM, and Banco BPM bought stakes in a sale handled by its subsidiary Banca Akros.
Milan prosecutors are looking into the matter, and have questioned Orcel as a witness, Reuters reported on Wednesday. In the La Repubblica interview, the CEO said he could not say anything about the investigation.
(Reporting By Gavin Jones, editing by Alvise Armellini)
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