Mps, here is the new bloodletting of the state for Monte
What will happen with the capital increase of Mps. Emanuela Rossi's article
Green light to the capital increase of up to 2.5 billion for Monte dei paschi di Siena (Mps). The green light came from the extraordinary shareholders' meeting that met in Siena. "This was a very important step because it is the official start of the match, now we run, in October as we said we will start", said the CEO of the Rocca, Luigi Lovaglio, in the press conference following the meeting at which he 65.19% of the share capital participated or – net of the Treasury share, equal to 64.23% – less than 1% of the capital.
Among the shareholders, 23 intervened on their own and 131 by proxy. The data – reports Ansa – were presented by the president of Mps, Patrizia Grieco, who at the end of the meeting defined herself "always confident about the positive outcome".
Lovaglio, formerly of Creval, also stressed that the “speed” of the recapitalization is “also in function of the clarity of objectives”. Despite the severability, he added, "from day one the compact board of directors said that we are focused on 2.5 billion to be taken home in a single solution within the deadline".
THE TIMES OF THE OPERATION
Having received the green light from the shareholders' meeting, it is now necessary to wait for the approval of the prospectus by Consob – by mid-October – to complete everything by 12 November, as contained in the request for delegation from the board of directors. In this way it will be possible to finance the exit of 3,500 employees – estimated cost 800 million – by the end of November, as envisaged in the industrial plan. The voluntary and incentivized exodus, which will guarantee a contribution slide and the current welfare conditions for 7 years, will save the coffers of Rocca Salimbeni 270 million a year.
And if 1.6 billion of the total 2.5 billion of the increase will come from the Treasury, another 900 million will be sought on the market, also by going to meet potential investors as done by Ad Lovaglio who, in a press conference, assured that he had “continuous” meetings with investors “so I would say positive encounters”.
Among those who have already agreed to the capital increase is Anima Holding which, according to what was confirmed by Ansa in financial circles, could intervene with 150-250 million euros. It should be remembered that Anima has an ongoing commercial partnership in asset management with Montepaschi, which expires in 2030, and – according to the press agency – would be interested in strengthening the operation. According to what La Repubblica Anima reports, it could reach up to 10% of the increase "but only to earn more, certainly not to become a pivotal partner of the bank".
WHAT WAS SAID AT THE ASSEMBLY
Returning to the assembly, as reported by the press agencies, President Grieco intervened at the opening of the proceedings, according to which "our bank is called to a test of fundamental importance" because the capital increase "constitutes a fundamental step" for “Return to sustainable growth” and represents “the architrave on which the 2022-2026 industrial plan rests”.
Not only that: the recapitalization is urgent "in order to take advantage of the law by 30 November that allows for the implementation of voluntary staff redundancies", ceo Lovaglio noted, since last February in Siena, responding to a shareholder. "More than a third of the increase will be used for the implementation of the voluntary exodus", Lovaglio recalled, because "the law expires on November 30, we have made an important agreement with the trade unions for this initiative which is in the interest of those who go and those who stay, and the initiative provides that we must finance this exodus against a law that expires on November 30, and times are necessarily burning. With the voluntary exodus of 3,500 employees – he continued – we will have 270 million less costs from 1 January 2023, we will have an operating result definitively in a comfortable area and on a par with our competitors. The increase will make it possible to provide the bank with resources by increasing the ability to finance businesses and households in the area ”.
Lovaglio did not shy away from the criticisms of the shareholders at the meeting on the credibility of the plan, “I understand them, for this very reason, when we presented it, we said that we must show that we have taken important steps in the implementation. We approved corporate mergers to simplify the group and make it leaner, sold 900 million of non-performing loans, activated a new commercial organization. I understand skepticism, it is not easy to trust, but we wanted to show that we are serious and that we want to do things right ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/mps-aumento-di-capitale/ on Fri, 16 Sep 2022 05:12:24 +0000.