UniCredit said on Monday that it has
launched an all-share offer for domestic rival Banco BPM worth
10,086,832,606 euros.
UniCredit said in a statement that it is offering 6,657 euros
for each share, a slight premium on Friday's closing price of
6,644 euros.
The Italian lender explained that the purchase, which would be
an all-stock deal, would allow it to "further boost its role as
a leading pan-European banking group."
UniCredit will present the document on the offer to stock-market
regulator CONSOB within the next 20 days.
Under the acquisition of Banco BPM, which has long been a
potential buyout target, UniCredit would become the
third-largest lender in Europe for market capitalization,
according to a note announcing the all-share offer.
"Europe needs stronger and larger banks that help it develop its
economy and compete against all the other main economic blocks",
the CEO of UniCredit Andrea Orcel said in the statement.
Orcel also went on to say that UniCredit's position in German
lender Commerzbank "is an investment" which "has time to
mature".
The offer for Banco BPM comes during an impasse in UniCredit's
efforts to buy its German rival - an acquisition opposed by the
government in Berlin.
In September, UniCredit increased its stake in Commerzbank to
21% and filed a request to increase the holding to up to 29.9%.
Earlier that month, the Italian lender had acquired a 9% stake
in Commerzbank, including half from the German government.
Meanwhile, earlier this month Banco BPM made an offer for asset
manager Anima in a potential 1.6 billion euro deal and then
bought a 5% share in bailed-out rival Monte dei Paschi di Siena
(MPS).
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