Italian multinational banking group UniCredit SpA must adjust the takeover offer of Banco BPM SpA by mid-March. This is reported in a UniCredit press release.
Earlier, UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel sent an offer to acquire Banco BPM for 10.1 billion euros ($10.5 billion) at a price of 6.66 euros per share (0.175 new UniCredit shares per Banco BPM share).
Since the proposed amount turned out to be below the current market capitalization of Banco BPM (11 billion euros), the board of directors of Banco BPM rejected UniCredit's application, citing an underestimated valuation of the company and a possible reduction of 6,000 jobs.
If the deal is completed, UniCredit will become Italy's largest bank in terms of assets under management, disrupting the government's plans to create the third largest bank in Italy after UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA as part of Banco BPM's acquisition of a stake in lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA from the government.
The management of UniCredit also discussed with investors the issue of a potential takeover of the German lender Commerzbank AG, which must be postponed until the end of 2025, taking into account the federal elections in February and the formation of a new government.
UniCredit has long considered Banco BPM, with assets of 200 billion euros, as a strategic goal for expanding operations in northern Lombardy and was close to acquiring in 2022, but a leak of information about the proposed agreement disrupted the deal.
In early September, UniCredit acquired a 9% stake in Commerzbank, becoming the second largest shareholder after the German government, and then increased the stake from 9% to 21% and applied to increase the stake to 29.9%. The German government retains a 12% stake and strongly opposes the takeover of Commerzbank by an Italian bank.
UniCredit S.p.A. is an Italian multinational banking group headquartered in Milan (Italy). UniCredit has been a systemically important bank since 2011. The main regions of the bank's activity are Italy, Germany, Austria and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Banco BPM is an Italian banking group formed in 2017 as part of the merger of Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano. The headquarters are located in Milan and Verona (Italy).
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