Banca Ifis announces that it has finalised the acquisition of 70,77% of the capital of Farbanca SpA held by Banca Popolare di Vicenza in liquidation while the remaining 29,23% is still held by around 450 small shareholders, mainly pharmacists. Under the terms of the agreement, Banca Ifis paid €32,52 million to the LCA. The completion of the acquisition follows the release of the authorization provision by the European Central Bank to Banca Ifis on 11 November 2020.
"Thanks to this important operation managed and concluded in a complex period such as the current one, starting today we officially give life to the first specialized center leader in financial services for pharmacies - comments Luciano Colombini, Chief Executive Officer of Banca Ifis -. With the integration of complementary assets and the strong market positioning of Credifarma and Farbanca, Banca Ifis strengthens its role as leading sector operator at European level by accelerating, thanks to the best skills, the development of increasingly specialized, personalized and digital services , for the first time integrated into a single large operator”.
The Banca Ifis Group will strengthen its commercial presence in the reference sector, reaching over 4.700 customer pharmacies and a 26% market share, thanks to the combination of Credifarma (nearly 2.800 customer pharmacies) and Farbanca (about 1.900 customer pharmacies). Farbanca's customer pharmacies are well distributed throughout Italy with a greater density between Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, completing the territorial presence of Credifarma, demonstrating high loyalty, good asset quality and a low cost of risk.
Farbanca closed 2019 with a net profit of 4,1 million euros and loans to customers equal to approximately 598 million euro. As at 31 December 2019, shareholders' equity is €65,5 million, CET1 is 16% and risk-weighted assets (RWA) are €409,9 million. As at 31 December 2019, Farbanca had an efficient and streamlined operating structure with a cost/income ratio of 43,5% and 36 employees. The estimated impact on Cet1 will be around 20 basis points
