Who aims to eat Soul?
Eyes on the shareholders of Anima, the Banco Bpm and Poste Italiane company active in managed savings. Fiorina Capozzi's article
Anima holding looking for growth opportunities. With the blessing of the market. And also about politics which certainly cannot afford to see another piece of Italian managed savings fly away.
As he wrote yesterday Sole 24 Ore the company, controlled by Banco BPM (19.4%) and the Italian Post Office ( respectively with 19.4 and 10.4%) points to "diversify business in alternative assets . Then: be ready to seize the opportunities in the consolidation of managed savings. Again: push for new partnerships on the distribution front ".
These would be some of the essential points of Anima's industrial plan which aims to reach, in the medium term, between 2 and 3 billion assets under management in alternative assets. And perhaps to consolidate in managed savings, according to what the Confindustria newspaper hypothesizes, through the marriage with Arca sgr, the management company controlled by Bper (57%) and by Popolare di Sondrio (34%). Without subsequently excluding international operations as well.
“Anima does not hide its interest in foreign realities – wrote the newspaper -. But this is a more medium-term project. The focus, precisely because the consolidation of credit institutions is underway in Italy, remains to this day on the domestic market. Attention to any shopping with respect to which the asset management group indicates stand alone to be able to put on the plate, without resorting to capital increases, between 300 and 400 million ".
The issue is, moreover, very dear to Rome. Not only because among the shareholders of Anima there is the Italian Post Office, but because it is now known that managed savings have remained one of the greatest assets of the country.
It clearly emerged in 2016 when Unicredit put Pioneer up for sale. On that occasion Anima took the field with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti e Poste with the aim of creating a "primary operator in the management sector". But, in the end, it was the French from Amundi (Agricole) who prevailed, putting 3.54 billion on the plate.
The operation was not well received in the Roman palaces which on too many occasions have witnessed the passage into French hands of important pieces of the Italian economy and finance without an adequate counterpart. Often even at rock-bottom market prices. Aspects highlighted critically by the Copasir report.
And even today, the fact that the stock prices are heavily under pressure is worrying. In one year, the Anima stock lost about 12 percent. And although there are two significant shareholders in the capital, it cannot be excluded that Anima may arouse the interest of larger operators.
Hence the willingness of management to grow rapidly in a market where economies of scale are everything.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/chi-punta-a-papparsi-anima/ on Mon, 01 Feb 2021 14:12:56 +0000.