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Italy starts market placement of 7% stake in Monte dei Paschi

Italy's Treasury stated on Wednesday it had actually launched an accelerated bookbuilding procedure to place shares in Monte dei Paschi di Siena equivalent to about 7% of the bailedout loan provider's capital.

Banca Akros, which belongs to Italy's Banco BPM group, is the joint worldwide coordinator and bookrunner for the sale, Rome stated in a declaration.

The deal will allow the ministry to cut its existing 26.7% stake listed below 20% by the end of this year to reveal European Union authorities it no longer manages MPS, in line with reprivatisation commitments agreed throughout a 2017 bailout.

The original EU deadline to return MPS into private hands was extended after Italy failed to offer MPS to UniCredit in 2021.

At the time the bank was loss-making, and weighed down by legal dangers which court judgments have later on resolved for the a lot of part.

The country has already filched almost 1.6 billion euros ($ 1.69 billion) by lowering its initial 64% MPS shareholding through 2 previous ABB positionings over the past year.

An additional 7% stake would net around 486 million euros based on Wednesday's closing rate of 5.52 euros a share.

That compares with a cost of 2 euros each at which MPS offered new shares two years ago, to raise money to fund thousands of voluntary personnel exits and improve profits through cost cuts.

Asked whether the sale of a further stake impended, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti previously on Wednesday informed press reporters: Yes, perhaps, what do I know?

The federal government thinks a tactical purchaser - such as another Italian bank - would be the very best warranty for MPS' future and sources have previously said banking managers favour such an option.

Banco BPM, Italy's third-largest bank, has long been seen in Rome as the very best suitable for MPS, however its chief executive Giuseppe Castagna has repeatedly rejected any interest.

Giorgetti and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have both stated the privatisation of MPS should help develop a third large banking group, together with Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit.

Italy's fourth-largest bank by properties, BPER, is likewise a prospect for the task.

BPER's prominent investor, insurance company Unipol, has stated it could take a stake in MPS if Unipol replaced France's. AXA as its insurance coverage partner.

(source: Reuters)