The race for Arca, the jewel of managed savings owned by some popular banks including Popolare di Vicenza, Veneto Banca, Bper and Popolare di Sondrio, is enriched every day with more and more new suitors.
There are at least five candidates to buy Arca, a company that has a capital of 50 million euros and is worth between 800 million and one billion euros.
After the offers made by the Italian Anima Holding and after those of the American funds Atlas and Centerbride, in recent days the French have come forward with the private equity fund Ardian and with the asset management giant Amundi.
Faced with so much interest, the members of the Popolari rejoice but it is not certain that they will decide to choose one of the current five suitors, even if the Arca sale project currently remains the privileged one. In recent times, another hypothesis has also come forward among the shareholders, which is that of the listing of Arca on the Stock Exchange through an IPO.
This will have to be dealt with by the advisors that the shareholders will probably choose during the week to evaluate which of the various options in the field is considered the best.
In any case, Arca is destined to create sparks and to enliven the asset management scene for a long time to come.
