From Anima to Fineco via Pioneer. In 2014, it opened at a rapid pace the building site of managed savings, accomplice the by now consolidated recovery of flowsi arriving in the compartment and le mind-boggling performance of listed groups. The latest numbers of Assogestioni indicate that in February the industry achieved a double record: almost 12 billion in funding (11,8), numbers not seen since 1998 and assets under management at a new record of 1.362 billion euro, supported by both new subscriptions and the performance effect. A trend that continues the good intonation of the sector started in 2013 which closed with a positive deposit balance exceeding +62,5 billion euro, the best figure in the last thirteen years (after the 2012 deposits were down by 12 billion and in 2011 by 41 billion).
On the Stock Exchange, listed securities have put the turbo: in the last 12 months Azimuth rose by 122%, General Bank the 62% Mediolanum by 74%. Not surprisingly, too Anima, delisted in 2009, is returning to the lists in these days. The Anima Holding IPO, which began last March 31st, will end in the next few days, on April 10th and represents the first 2014 freshman on the main list of Piazza Affari. According to rumors, the offer was covered on the second day. The final price will be communicated within 5 days following the closing of the placement: the range is 3,5-4,5 euros per share for a countervalue of the offer (55% of the capital, with a possible 15% greenshoe) of 577- 742 million euros. The company is back on the stock exchange 5 years after its farewell to the lists in 2009 and after having gone through an intense phase of aggregations and mergers. In fact, Anima has become the unifying pole of various asset management realities: Bipiemme Gestioni, Etruria Fund, Mps Asset management Sgr, Antonveneta Abn Amro, Clessidra Alternative (the latter three merged into Prima Sgr), then passing through the merger of Aperta Sgr. In the meantime, volumes have grown from 35 billion assets under management in 2011 to the current 48,6, revenues have risen to 220 million from 146 and profit before taxes to 165 million from 17. Today, passing the hand and bringing the group on the stock market are the private equity fund Clessidra and the banks Mps and Bpm: in fact, the placement does not envisage a capital increase but the sale by the current shareholders. In detail, the 164.892.260 shares are put up for sale by Mps, Bpm, Lauro42 (a company controlled by Clessidra Sgr on behalf of the Clessidra Capital Partners II fund) and Prima Holding (owned by Lauro 42, Bmps and some managers of the Anima group) . Mps and Bpm will remain shareholders after the listing of Anima Holding, with shares of 9,90% and 14,72% respectively, while Lauro 42 will subsequently have a stake of 8%. There are lock-up clauses: for the company 6 months from the first day of trading, for Lauro 42 6 months, for Mps and Bpm 12 months, for management 36 months. The partial but substantial exit of the current partners has turned the spotlight on the group's future projects.
Fineco is also expected to be on the stock exchange before the summer, the Unicredit group's online bank active in asset management and internet intermediation which has 31 billion euros of assets under management and 19 billion euros of assets under management. The official announcement of a forthcoming listing came during the presentation of the 2013 accounts in Piazza Cordusio which aims to collect from the sale a positive impact on the capital requirements of the group. On the market could end up up to 30-40% e analysts estimate a value of the entire company at around two billion. But the maneuvers at Unicredit may not end there. Although during the presentation of the plan the CEO Federico Ghizzoni did not want to comment on the future of Pioneer, many are also expecting extraordinary operations on the group's asset management company which has 175 billion in assets under management. For example, the listing route has long been a hypothesis that should not be excluded, as Ghizzoni himself had already indicated in 2011 ("I would not rule it out, it could be part of this plan. It is a possible hypothesis", said Ghizzoni in 2011 specifying however that the dossier was not yet on the table). Hypothesis current again after the road taken by Fineco. However, a few weeks ago Vice President Candido Fois denied the rumors of an IPO. In recent days the Sunday Times has spoken instead of a possible sale of ICBC to the Chinese (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China), the largest Chinese banking group. According to the British newspaper, ICBC could pay up to 2 billion euros for Pioneer, a price which corresponds to a valuation equal to 1,15% of the assets under management. For now, an ICBC spokesman has denied by email that there are ongoing talks with Pioneer while UniCredit is not commenting.
Banca Fideuram was the one who had to return to the stock market even before Anima, which was delisted in 2006 to carry forward the broader integration project with Eurizon, which would in turn land on the stock exchange. However, everything was blocked by the upstream merger between Banca Intesa and San Paolo Imi, which took place in the summer of 2006. And there has been talk of a return to the Stock Exchange of Banca Fideuram. In the deep years of the crisis between 2008 and 2009, however, the dossier remained in the drawer until the beginning of 2010 when the board of intesa Sanpaolo approved the launch of the listing process. But from postponement to postponement while waiting for better times on the markets, trace of the project for a new landing in Piazza Affari has been lost. On the contrary. For now, it's just not talked about. "To date it is not on the table", commented the CEO of Intesa Carlo Messina not too long ago by answering journalists' questions during the press conference for the presentation of the 2014-2017 business plan. If Intesa were to list Banca Fideuram or other assets, it would generate additional capital compared to the eight billion euro currently in excess, capital that the bank does not currently need. “We have a set of business units worth between 10 and 15 billion – Messina explained – if we listed them we would increase excess capital but we would lose profits in the income statement. So we don't need a quote that values these assets. For the future, the options are open given that they are assets that have a value and that could be exploited to the fullest, perhaps with a view to partnership at a European level”. In any case, if Intesa had to choose today, Banca Fideuram would probably still be its first choice. "I don't think Eurizon's listing on the stock exchange would make sense, Fideuram's would make more sense", he commented Tommaso Corcos, CEO of Eurizon Capital, shortly before the presentation of Intesa's industrial plan by answering a question on the future of the bank's asset management divisions during the Asset Management Show. “It is true – he added – that at the moment there is interest with the Anima IPO but we still have to develop certain dynamics”. Among the lines of development that the CEO indicates as a priority, there is an acceleration of the internationalization already underway which will take place through internal lines through Banca Fideuram and the International Banks division.
