Arpe had said it up to the last moment: wait anything can happen. The last twist, the one signed Ligresti, is in fact the most disruptive for the results of theGreat Unipol operation: the family will not waive the indemnity or the right of withdrawal. Indispensable conditions for Unipol: only in this case Consob will give the go-ahead for the merger without the obligation of a takeover bid. Thus the door opened wide for Sator and Palladio who punctually relaunched with an offer of 800 million. And speculation has ignited on the entire insurance pole with upward suspensions and whirling exchanges: Fonsai flies by 11,58% with savings rising by 10%, Premafin leap 9,08%, Milan Insurance rises by +4,33%. Well too Unipol +3,54% while privileged leaps by 10%.
A showdown by the Ligrestis that could bear fruit: Unipol itself, which was beginning to feel one step away from Fonsai after accepting the exchange rate proposed by the insurance hub, has already backed off halfway and hurriedly in the afternoon he wrote to Premafin, Milano Assicurazioni and Fonsai confirming his willingness "to proceed with the merger" on the basis of his proposal "postponing to a subsequent evaluation" and "discussion with the supervisory authorities" the methods on how to give implementation of Consob requests on indemnity and withdrawal.
The negotiations between the leaders of the Fonsai and Unipol management in fact, they went on all afternoon while the Premafin board of directors, initially postponed to Sunday, was unexpectedly summoned in the afternoon. The banks are pressing on Premafin, but they will await the resolutions of the Fonsai and Milano Assicurazioni board of directors on Monday before starting the procedure to enforce the pledge on 35,7% of Fonsai should the agreement with Unipol fail.
The energy/utility sector shines on the Ftse Mib: Enel Green Power soars at +4,13%, Enel +2,97%, A2A +1,14%, Snam +1,03%. Today the CEO of Eni Paolo Scaroni he said the group will probably arrive at a strategy on the 22% it still holds in Snam by the end of June. Telecom Italia also did well + 2,89%. The industrialists, on the other hand, are destroying the price list. Among the worst titles the Agnelli galaxy: Fiat Industrial -3,75%, Fiat -2,85% after Marchionne confirmed 2012 targets today, and Exor -2,14%.
ISTAT, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION DOWN BY 9,2% YEARLY
BTP-BUND AT 488 BASIS POINTS
On the industrial front, the markets have also closed today the bad Istat data on production in April: – 9,2% on an annual basis, the worst figure since November 2009, compared to March, production decreased by 1,9%, while on average for the February-April quarter the index decreased by 2,5% compared to the immediately preceding three months.
The whole banking sector is heavy on a day that saw the Btp-bund spread rise again after Fitch's move on Spanish sovereign debt and uncertainty about Spain's next moves to secure the banking sector. The Btp-bund differential rose to 443 basis points from 431 at the opening and the Bono-bund to 488 from 469 points. Worst stock of the Ftse Mib Mps -3,93%, Banco Popolare -3,58%, Intesa -3%, Unicredit – 2,37%. The main European markets closed in the red but above the lows of the day, recovering in the final stages: Milan -0,74%, Frankfurt -0,22%, Paris - 0,63%, London - 0,23%. The Dow Jones rose by 0,15% shortly after the closure of the European markets and the Nasdaq by 0,38%. The euro closed down against the dollar at 1,2480 while WTI oil traded down at 83,08 dollars a barrel.
MADRID TO REQUEST HELP?
OBAMA, EUROPE MUST ACT
Positive Madrid +0,86% pending the aid plan. According to sources from the Reuters agency, tomorrow Spain will ask for an aid package for its banking system, which could be followed by a conference call of finance ministers and a statement from the Eurogroup. European authorities are looking into Spain's problems. We expect a bailout call for the banks,” he said mid-afternoon the vice president of the European Central Bank, Vitor Constancio, according to reports from Bloomberg. For Ewald Nowotny, also a member of the ECB board, "it is better that Spain does not postpone the request for aid to the EU because the longer it waits, the more the cost of the rescue increases".
But, as in recent weeks, there is no shortage of denials and uncertainties: a spokeswoman for the Spanish government said she was unaware of a bank bailout request that Madrid intends to present over the weekend and also the EU Commission he said he could not confirm the call of the Eurogroup and "has no news" of a request for financial aid from Spain.
Angela Merkel confirms:” Spain has not yet asked for any help and Germany will not put pressure on states to accept support”. Europe, he added, “will emerge from the crisis with a solid euro and with a future”, because “it has all the tools to ensure stable development of the euro area. Now it's up to the individual countries to turn to us, so to speak". After the controversies of recent days, the president of the United States Barack Obama adjusts the shot by stating that the United States is careful not to "blame" Europe or to tell the Europeans what to do. But he urged the European Union to act and strengthen the banks: "European leaders understand the urgency of the situation: the solutions for the European crisis are tough but they are there and the United States is backing Europe," Obama said he chose the path of immediate growth, postponing the stabilization of the accounts, "a more long-term plan, with austerity we risk a downward spiral".
