Palenzona warms up the Unicredit-Banco Bpm project
What Fabrizio Palenzona, new president of the Crt Foundation, said about Unicredit and Banco Bpm
Unicredit-Bpm merger? Why not? Actually maybe.
This is the essence of the words of the new president of the Crt Foundation, Fabrizio Palenzona, according to the interpretations of the analysts on the interview that the new number one of the Turin institution gave today to the Repubblica newspaper.
The merger between Banco Bpm and UniCredit still has strategic value. This is supported by Fabrizio Palenzona, who yesterday was elected as the new president of the Crt Foundation, the foundation of banking origin which is a shareholder of Unicredit.
WHAT PALENZONA SAID ABOUT UNICREDIT AND BANCO BPM
But what did Palenzona say? “Twenty years ago, the then CEO of UniCredit, Alessandro Profumo, sent me to the chairman of BPM Bassi, to offer him a friendly takeover bid in cash, at double the stock market prices at the time – he told Repubblica – The idea of Profumo was to strengthen UniCredit in Lombardy, where there was a deficit for the bank compared to other areas in Italy. Twenty years later, I understand that that deficit is still there, and therefore the strategic value of the operation remains”.
PALENZONA ON ORCEL AND CHESTNUT
"Having said this, I know both Andrea Orcel and Giuseppe Castagna well, who are two very good managers and it is up to them to decide the strategies of UniCredit and Bpm, certainly not the shareholder", added the new president of the Turin institution.
PALENZONA'S WORDS NOT ONLY ABOUT UNICREDIT AND BANCO BPM
Palenzona took over from Giovanni Quaglia, who has headed the Crt Foundation since 1 February 2017. To a question about the plans for Mundys (formerly Atlantia), of which Crt has 5%, he replied : “In Crt we appreciate the strategic path that the president of Edizione Alessandro Benetton is carrying on in Mundys, which aims at internationalization, keeping its heart and head in Italy. We will work with Edizione and Blackstone to support the development of Mundys.”
PALENZONA EFFECT ON UNICREDIT AND BANCO BPM SECURITIES?
Palenzona's words are in fact new meat put on the fire on the banking merger hypothesis. Already two days ago the return of speculation on a possible acquisition by UniCredit pushed the Banco Bpm stock to Piazza Affari.
THE RECURRING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT UNICREDIT AND BANCO BPM
Some reconstructions in the press have dusted off the merger project between the two institutions in recent days, based on the recent revaluation of the UniCredit stock, which would make the share swap convenient for the bank led by the CEO Andrea Orcel.
THE EQUITA REPORT
Equita's analysts recall that on the occasion of the presentation of the 2022 accounts, Orcel "had indicated that by the end of the year the bank would define the use of its excess capital, which we estimate between 6 and 7.5 billion on the basis of a Cet1 target of 12.5-13%”.
THE NUMBERS ON BANCO BPM AND UNICREDIT
The experts – according to a point from the Radiocor agency – reiterate their belief that the operation "would have a strong industrial rationale as it would significantly strengthen UniCredit's competitive positioning in Italy, with an overall market share in terms of branches that would from 11% to 18% and from 10% to 20% in the North, and room for a high increase in earnings per share, over 15% post synergies, also against the recognition of a significant bonus in favor of Banco shareholders Bpm and without compromising the capital solidity of the combined entity". "At the same time – warns Equita – we consider an operation complicated at the moment considering the uncertainties on the evolution of the macro scenario and in the light of the presence of Credit Agricole as the main shareholder of Banco Bpm, as well as partner in consumer credit and insurance ”.
THE INTERMONTE REPORT
The acquisition of Banco Bpm by UniCredit, noted by Intermonte, "would close the Mps-Banco Bpm issue, with the probable disagreement of the government". 'We believe that the Government welcomes the creation of a third banking pole rather than a UniCredit-Banco operation and that Credit Agricole seeks to preserve its commercial agreements with Banco Bpm', writes the Sim, which also expects UniCredit ' you have a 360-degree view of growth options through external channels”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/palenzona-scalda-il-progetto-unicredit-banco-bpm/ on Wed, 19 Apr 2023 07:24:24 +0000.