Mps, the French of Axa come down from Monte with a nice capital gain

28 February 20231 year ago babelfish

How and why the French insurance group Axa leaves the capital of MPS. Facts, numbers and insights

The price for the sale of MPS shares by Axa has been set at 2.33 euros per share. The Bloomberg agency reports it, highlighting that the fixed price sees a "15.1% discount compared to yesterday's stock market closing". Axa has launched an accelerated book building process to sell its stake in Mps, equal to around 8% of the capital. The placement was entrusted to Exane Bnp Paribas. The proceeds of Axa will be 233 million euros. Axa will maintain (directly or indirectly) 0.0007% of the Sienese bank's share capital.

These are the latest news from Mps. Here are all the details.

HOW AXA ENTERED MPS

Only in November had Axa agreed to invest 200 million in the delicate MPS capital increase of 2.5 billion euro, giving significant support to its implementation (and protecting the partnership). That entry, which made Axa the second largest MPS shareholder with 8% after the 64% of the Treasury, had taken place at 2 euros per share. Yesterday on the Stock Exchange Mps closed at 2.74 euros (+2.83%).

THIS IS HOW AXA COMES OFF THE MONTE (DEI PASCHI DI SIENA)

With an accelerated bookbuilding procedure reserved for institutional investors, announced yesterday afternoon after the markets were closed, the French insurance giant has put up for sale almost all of its stake in the oldest bank in the world. The French company, which had 7.94 percent of the capital in its portfolio, will maintain an almost symbolic stake of 0.0007 percent in Monte dei Paschi, whose stock will probably be included in the Ftse-Mib index tomorrow. The placement, entrusted to Exane Bnp Paribas, will take place by 2 March.

THE EFFECTS OF AXA'S DECISION ACCORDING TO CORRIERE DELLA SERA

The sale by Axa, unexpected, produced two evident effects, according to Corriere della Sera : “Monte dei Paschi di Siena's share lost about 5 percent on the stock market in the final stages of yesterday's session. The last recorded price was 2.6075 euros, against a high for the day at 2.77. The other obvious aspect of the operation is that the sale of the French share simplifies the path of renewal of the top management of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which will be submitted to the vote of the assembly on 20 April. Less than a month after the presentation of the lists, which will have to be formalized on March 26, the exit of Axa, which was the second largest shareholder after the Italian government, which controls over 64 percent of the shares, facilitates future strategies”.

WHAT AXA ITALIA HAD ANNOUNCED

Antimo Perretta, CEO of European markets and president of the board of Axa Italia, said last week, Axa wants to continue being an insurer and is not interested in managing a foreign bank. The French, who have an insurance joint venture with Mps that has been going on with mutual satisfaction since 2007 (and will continue), had become shareholders of Mps on the occasion of the last capital increase.

THE SCENARIO FOR MPS SECOND REPUBLIC

“As is well known – recalled the Repubblica newspaper – the Treasury is committed to reprivatizing within the next two years. What is not known, and according to Repubblica, is that the CEO of Axa Thomas Buberl and the CEO of MPS Luigi Lovaglio would have recently exchanged views on the trend of the joint business, and a considerable dissatisfaction of the French shareholders would have emerged: especially in the face of the conspicuous investment at the end of 2022. Certainly the sharp rise in rates, which brought the yield on the ten-year BTP above 4%, makes it difficult to sell policies to anyone in this phase of the market”.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/mps-i-francesi-di-axa-scendono-dal-monte-con-una-bella-plusvalenza/ on Tue, 28 Feb 2023 07:39:11 +0000.