Not only Mps, this is how banking risk is scrutinized by the Antitrust Authority
There is also a bit of Antitrust in the next banking risk that should bring Mps to Unicredit. The deepening of Emanuela Rossi
There is also a bit of Antitrust in the next banking risk that should bring Rocca Salimbeni to Milan. In fact, if the terms of the merger of Montepaschi into Unicredit are still not clear, even the Italian Competition Authority "intervened in relation to important mergers in the banking sector, which, according to some observers, they could also be the start of a broader consolidation process ”. This is what we read in a focus dedicated to “Developments in the Italian banking sector” in the Report on the activity carried out in 2020 presented last week to the Senate by President Roberto Rustichelli .
BANK CONCENTRATIONS YESTERDAY AND TODAY ACCORDING TO THE AGCM
In the dedicated focus, the AGCM highlights how "the bank concentrations in 2020 follow the consolidation processes that culminated in 2006-2008 (with the merger operations between Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI and between Unicredito Italiano and Capitalia, with the birth of UBI Banca and with the consolidation of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena), which had seen the Authority play an important role, and follow the subsequent concentration phenomena in 2018 connected to the cooperative credit reform, on which the Authority had likewise intervened ". Here the reference is to the birth of three cooperative banking groups, namely the Iccrea Cooperative Banking Group, the Cassa Centrale Banca Cooperative Banking Group and the Alto Adige Casse Raiffeisen Group.
THE INTESA SANPAOLO TENDER OFFER FOR UBI BANCA
We then move on to talk about the "most important acquisition in 2020", namely the totalitarian voluntary public exchange offer, concerning the share capital of UBI Banca (among the top five national operators), promoted by Intesa Sanpaolo. As part of this operation – precisely because of the structural measures imposed by Piazza Verdi as a condition for the authorization, which arrived in July 2020 – the acquisition by Bper of a company branch consisting of over 500 bank branches was included mostly of UBI Banca.
THE ANTITRUST FINDINGS ON THE TENDER OFFER
Among the elements highlighted by the Antitrust in the preliminary investigation document on the transaction, there was the fact that the takeover bid in question "was capable of producing the establishment and / or strengthening of Intesa Sanpaolo's dominant position in numerous relevant markets" and in this way competition was "substantially and lastingly" prejudiced. For this reason, therefore, the AGCM has imposed on Intesa Sanpaolo "important structural measures" in order to overcome the anti-competitive effects deriving from it and then authorize the operation. In particular, the group led by Carlo Messina was required to sell 532 bank branches to one or more independent operators “capable of regulating the new post-merger entity”. In addition to Bper, the Unipol group, the majority shareholder of the Emilia-Romagna bank, also joined the operation and took over the insurance branch of Ubi Banca.
And these two realities are the protagonists of another proceeding by the Authority, launched in December 2020, "to ascertain the possible non-compliance with the measures to which the concentration with Unipol Banca was subject". Indeed, the Antitrust Authority “pays particular attention to compliance with the measures imposed in the conditional authorization of mergers”. The proceeding – whose closure has been extended to next October 31 – intends to verify that article 19, paragraph 1, of the law establishing the Antitrust (n. 287/90) has not been violated and to assess whether it is necessary to impose new measures , in addition to or in place of those originally provided. It should be remembered that, in the event of non-compliance with the prohibition of concentration, the Authority "imposes administrative pecuniary sanctions of not less than one percent and not more than ten percent of the turnover of the business activities subject to the concentration" (Article 18 paragraph 3 of law 287/90).
ANALYSIS OF RELEVANT MARKETS
Finally, in the focus in the Annual Report, Piazza Verdi highlights the method used to evaluate the merger transactions that are conducted “according to the analysis of the relevant markets as defined on the basis of the consolidated practice of the Authority”. In particular, it is noted, "an initial assessment of the impact of the transaction in terms of market positioning of the post-merger entity is carried out through an initial screening at the provincial level, aimed at defining the areas in which it is necessary to carry out an in-depth analysis of a local nature through an analysis also at the level of user basins ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/il-risiko-bancario-scrutato-dallantitrust/ on Sun, 10 Oct 2021 06:19:28 +0000.