Crédit Mutuel has canceled its stake in Banca Popolare di Milano, which was 6,867% until last month. This was specified today by the French institute, historical partner of Bpm, while from the communications to Consob on the relevant shareholdings a residual 0,935% still emerges in the hands of the Alsatian group. The decision, explains Crédit Mutuel in a press release, "comes from the revision of the Italian law of 17 December 2012" on the limits on the ownership of shares in cooperative banks.
According to the chairman of the Bpm supervisory board, Peter Giarda, the French Bank was experiencing “a deep-rooted disappointment that came from the past”, which was added to a legislative change which effectively deprived their holding of any “prospect of profitability. They found themselves faced with this legislative change which for shares exceeding 1% in the capital of Popolari prevents them from receiving the dividend. In addition, the previous administration had canceled the industrial agreements”.
As for Mutuel's CDS post, Giarda explained to Radiocor that “it is reserved for them, with their first and last name, and cannot be transferred to anyone else. So in the future, after the governance reform, the CDS will be 13 plus one (the place reserved for the Carialessandria Foundation, ed) instead of 13 plus two".
Jean-Jacques Tamburini, supervisory director of Banca Popolare di Milano with a stake in Crédit Mutuel, does not hide his bitterness and disappointment: “It's a sad story. Since the beginning we have invested 450 million, between the investment in Bpm, the one in Banca di Legnano and the convertible, with the aim of having technological cooperation in sectors of common interest. We have never been able to put together a real cooperation. When Bpm was looking for a partner, we presented the 'Growing together' project to the Board of Directors, which did not have any follow-up”.
At the beginning of the afternoon, Bpm's stock gained 0,6%.
