Latest news with #BancoBPM
Reuters
14 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
EU regulators clear with conditions UniCredit's acquisition of Banco BPM
BRUSSELS, June 19 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators on Thursday approved with conditions Italian bank UniCredit's ( opens new tab takeover of rival Banco BPM ( opens new tab. UniCredit agreed to sell 209 branches in northern Italy to allay competition concerns. "These commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission, by removing the horizontal overlap between the companies' activities in those areas and ensuring that competition is preserved," the European Commission said in a statement. The EU said it had declined a request from the Italian competition authority to refer the merger to it for assessment under Italian competition law. Italy had invoked its "golden powers" over the bid, on the grounds of national security concerns and to set the terms of UniCredit's offer. UniCredit had challenged the government-imposed conditions, with a court hearing set for next month. "The Commission has a particular interest in ensuring that competition is preserved in sectors such as banking and insurance, which are of crucial importance for the economic development of the Capital Market Union and Savings and Investment Union," the commission said in its statement. "Moreover, the Commission is well placed to deal with the transaction as it has developed significant expertise in analysing banking markets," the EU said. Reuters reported on June 10 that the deal would be cleared after UniCredit agreed to asset sales.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Savings are matter of national security, Italy tells EU on UniCredit-BPM bid
ROME, June 16 (Reuters) - Italy has responded to European Union queries on the conditions it has imposed on UniCredit's ( opens new tab bid for Banco BPM ( opens new tab by saying domestic savings are a matter of national security, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The European Commission had asked Rome for details about the terms that Giorgia Meloni's government set in authorising UniCredit's buyout offer for smaller lender BPM. The EU's scrutiny of the way Italy uses its 'golden power' legislation to shield key assets could lead to an infringement procedure. To clear the deal, the Italian government told UniCredit to halt its activities in Russia, except for payments, by early 2026 and to refrain from lowering BPM's loan-to-deposit ratio for five years. The EU, which promotes free movement of capital within the bloc, objected that it was unclear how an Italian lender buying a domestic rival could threaten the country's security and therefore be subject to golden power conditions. Italy has responded that more than 60% of UniCredit's capital is held by non-EU investors, the sources briefed on the contents of letters Rome exchanged with Brussels told Reuters. With a large public debt to refinance each year, Rome considers it important that the allocation of savings remains in domestic hands. Italy also argued that a government's duty to defend a country's financial security applies regardless of whether a merger deal potentially affecting national savings involves a foreign player or is fully domestic, the sources said. The European Commission was not immediately available to comment. Born to fend off unwelcome offers from outside the EU bloc, golden powers were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic to shield strategic companies as their valuations crashed. Some member states, including Italy, have applied the legislation to the banking sector, even though EU rules hand supervisory powers over banks to the European Central Bank (ECB). UniCredit's swoop on BPM, which derailed Rome's plans to combine BPM with state-backed Monte dei Paschi di Siena ( opens new tab, is part of a wave of takeover bids sweeping Italy. Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said last month he would resign if he were overruled on UniCredit, after the government-imposed terms for the bid split the ruling coalition. Meloni has not recently spoken publicly on the issue.
Bloomberg
7 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Banca Akros Says Monte Paschi Stake Sale Was in Full Compliance
By and Sonia Sirletti Save Banco BPM SpA 's unit Banca Akros said it fully complied with the law and best practices as coordinator for the sale of an Italian government stake in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA in November. Akros was responding to Italian media reports earlier Friday, including by Corriere della Sera, that prosecutors in Milan were looking into the finance ministry's sale of a 15% stake to a group of investors through an accelerated bookbuilding procedure.
Reuters
7 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Italian prosecutors probe government sale of Monte dei Paschi stake, sources say
MILAN, June 13 (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors are looking into the government's sale of a 15% stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena ( opens new tab last November to a small group of investors, and had police fetch documents relating to the transaction, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The economy ministry sold the stake through an accelerated bookbuilding (ABB) procedure. The sources did not provide details on what part of the process is being probed. The Treasury was looking to build a stable core of domestic shareholders in Monte dei Paschi, which it rescued in 2017 and had been returning to private hands, sources told Reuters before the November stake sale. Banco BPM took a 5% stake, fund manager Anima Holding took 3% and construction tycoon Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and the holding company of late Ray-Ban owner Leonardo Del Vecchio each took 3.5% of the Tuscan bank. The ABB process was handled by Banca Akros, the investment banking unit of Banco BPM. Banco BPM, Banca Akros and Delfin were not immediately available for a comment. A representative Caltagirone declined to comment. The sale was carried out at a premium to market prices, which was good for taxpayers, despite the fact that fewer investors than normal were involved in the process. Usually such placements involve more bidders but offer a discount. Previous placements of Monte dei Paschi shares by the Treasury had brought onboard dozens of foreign funds as investors. Since the November placement, Caltagirone and Delfin have increased their respective stakes becoming the top two shareholders in Monte dei Paschi. Italian banking is seeing a raft of takeover offers, causing upheaval in the sector. Italy's second-biggest bank UniCredit ( opens new tab has bid to buy smaller rival Banco BPM, meeting opposition from the government. Banco BPM has bought Anima. Monte dei Paschi has bid for Mediobanca ( opens new tab which in turn has bid for private bank Banca Generali ( opens new tab. ($1 = 0.8671 euros)
Reuters
12-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Italy court rejects Banco BPM's appeal against UniCredit bid suspension
ROME, June 12 (Reuters) - An Italian court on Thursday rejected an appeal by Banco BPM ( opens new tab which had challenged the suspension of a takeover offer it faces by rival UniCredit ( opens new tab, the court's website showed. UniCredit secured a one-month suspension of its offer for BPM by the country's markets regulator after the bid ran into difficulties due to government-set conditions. BPM had sought to have the suspension scrapped, saying it limited the bank's decision-making abilities and damaged its shareholders.
