The MPS Foundation has not completed the disposal of its shares in the Sienese bank and continues to look for a stable investor for the institution, aiming at the same time to partially subscribe to the capital increase. The president of the institution, Antonella Mansi, told the Radiocor agency the day after the placement of 12% of Banca Mps off the market and other sales in Piazza Affari which led him to halve his share to 15,07% of the capital.
“Yesterday was a good day's work – says Mansi – we have medium-long term objectives of securing and creating assets, it's a work in progress. We put a semicolon, not a period. With the proceeds from the disposals we fulfilled our duties and paid off the debt” with the banks that had financed the organization in 2011 to follow the bank's capital increase. Today we will have to manage assets in the medium-long term, giving the Foundation a longer time horizon".
Mansi confirms that after the priority of making Palazzo Sansedoni safe, there is the will to maintain a small stake in the Sienese bank. The sale of 15% of the capital on the market does not close the door to other negotiations. “However, let's carry on other conversations”, reveals Mansi, who when asked about an alleged request from the Treasury for the search for stable partners for the Bank's shareholders replies: “The Treasury has its aspirations that we can share. I have often become attached to the idea of finding a travel companion for the Foundation”. The consequence is that the Foundation is now not ruling out participating in the recapitalization of the bank which will start in mid-May. "Our aspiration is to maintain a smaller participation, which means that it will try to be there."
Bruno Valentini, mayor of Siena, commenting on the operation announced yesterday, said that “the Foundation and the Bank can now save themselves together. Up until last December this was unbelievable. Now the bank is contestable so the final ownership of the bank is decided by the market. Siena is no longer a shareholder of the bank but its territory of reference. We will ask the Foundation that the bank remain in Siena and be able to finance our companies. The Bank must be an economic subject for the recovery of our country".
In mid-afternoon, Banca Mps' share on the Stock Exchange dropped by one and a half percentage points.
