CIMBRI ACCELERATES AND CANCEL THE FONDIARIA NAME. UNIPOL +1,3% AND OLD FONSAI +3,19% TAKE OFF
Goodbye Fondiaria. Carlo Cimbri himself anticipated that, at the end of the complex four-party merger (Fondiaria, Milano Assicurazioni, Unipol and Premafin), the new group will be called Unipol-Sai, adding to the name of the Bologna-based company that of the Turin-based brand, historical leader in third party liability insurance. Thus the name Fondiaria disappeared from the Italian financial geography, the parlor of the Florentine bourgeoisie that Enrico Cuccia tried in vain to defend against Montedison's pressure and that Vincenzo Maranghi improvidently entrusted to Salvatore Ligresti in order to remove it from Paolo Fresco's Fiat. A novelty that the market does not mind: Fondiaria Sai rises by 3,19%, Unipol +1,3%.
Naturally these are not the words of Cimbri, the great director of fusion, which have warmed up Piazza Affari. If anything, once the complex operations on the capital of the insurance hub have been digested, the market has taken note that the new financial scenario (decrease in the spread, recovery in value of securities in portfolio to the benefit of solvency margins) allows you to look with much more benevolent eyes at the "creature" born in the Mediobanca clinic. Also because, as the CEO of Unipol points out, it is "a merger between two traditional non-life/life insurance groups and therefore there is a dialogue between people who speak the same language". In particular, Fonsai, hit by the crisis of the Ligresti group, nonetheless has “an extraordinary wealth of knowledge that has not been lost. There is a strong and good system, which has a 20% market share, and it will therefore be easy to find the necessary compatibility with Unipol”.
Hence the focus on the next steps: 1) the definitive merger plan to be presented to the authorities will be ready by the end of the year, which presupposes confirmation from the advisors who have followed the various companies: Goldman Sachs for Unipol, Citi for Fondiaria-Sai, Leonardo & Co. for Premafin; 2) at that point Isvap will have 120 days to pronounce, therefore it is reasonable to expect that the merger deed can be filed by next July; 3) by 2013, whatever the outcome of the disputes raised by Unipol against the Antitrust order (too severe according to the Bolognese), the chapter on sales will in any case be completed. “It is not our intention to stop,” says Cimbri.
Green light, therefore, for the big auction that promises to keep the attention of the financial markets alive in the coming months. The advisor Kpmg, which deals with the matter on behalf of Unipol, continues to receive expressions of interest from companies and private equity. The fund's interest is confirmed Allow for Milano Insurance. But the queue for the company now in Unipol's orbit is already very long. Among those interested are the names of the funds Hourglass e apax, as well as other insurance groups such as Axa, Cattolica, Allianz, Zurich. Everything will depend on the outcome of the dispute with the Antitrust which has asked Unipol to reduce its presence in some areas where it is excessively concentrated. Milano Assicurazioni or some of its assets could end up on the market.
