Finecobank at the top of the Ftse Mib on a weak day for Piazza Affari (-0,2%). At mid-morning the stock of the company led by Alessandro Foti gained 2,7% of its value to 15,665 euros per share. The purchases are driven by the rumors published by Sun 24 Hours according to which three private equity funds would be interested in the asset management sector and they would have taken charge of the Finecobank dossier.
Finecobank and Banca Generali in the sights of the funds: the rumors from Il Sole 24 Ore
The funds in question would be Bain, CVC and Advenyou, according to the newspaper on via Monte Rosa, they would have targeted FinecoBank attracted by double soul of the company, on the one hand investing, on the other brokerage, as well as by its good results reported in recent quarters.
Not only that, FinecoBank may not be the only company targeted by the funds. There would also be an interest in General Bank (+1,61% on the stock market) with the aim of training a hub in managed savings.
- Equita analysts highlight that the asset management sector has attractive prices, also considering the lean period experienced recently. Numbers in hand, if the average price-earnings ratio of the sector at the beginning of 2022 was around 15 times, today it stands at around 10,5 times."'We believe the speculations are also amplified by the recent offers on the Hargreaves Lansdown platform, which however – unlike Italian operators – represents a story of refocusing of the business model and does not have a banking license”, they commented, adding: “overall, in light of the derating on the sector and the progressively improving momentum, we positively evaluate the growing speculative appeal towards some domestic operators. On the other side, in the light from complexities related to the banking license and ECB supervision, we believe it is more likely that interest could actually be expressed by industrial operators, rather than financial ones".
Secondo Intermonte instead, "the interest in the sector is nothing new and confirms the attractiveness of the Italian wealth management segment which, despite commission levels higher than the average of other countries, has demonstrated high resilience and capacity for growth and cash generation" . However, SIM experts also point out that Italian wealth management companies in many cases have banking licenses and that the regulator does not view control by private equity positively also in light of the recent problems recorded by Eurovita in the insurance sector.
