FONSAI, THE BANKS ARE TRYING TO REMEDY THE FLOP. AND THE WAR OF WORDS READS AMONG THE NEWSPAPERS
The banks of the consortium guaranteeing the capital increases of Unipol and Fonsai are deciding today when to launch the offer of the unexercised rights of the stock on the Stock Exchange, which is kept on Piazza Affari at around 0,95 euro, i.e. below the price of 1 euro of the new shares, a circumstance which does not favor the bis offer on the market. The expectations, however, are that the auction will begin on Wednesday and end on the eve of August XNUMXth. Also on Wednesday, the integration sites open with a first meeting of a Unipol delegation, led by the managing director Carlo Cimbri with the managers of Fonsai led by CEO Emanuele Erbetta.
The meeting aims to be a contact to prefigure the steps that will then lead to the integration between the insurance companies. The following day, 9 August, Cimbri, after the BoD meeting in Bologna, will illustrate Unipol's half-year report to analysts in a conference call in the late afternoon. The objective of securing the operation before new torpedoes rain on the wedding is transparent, linked to the investigations underway at the courts of Milan and Turin.
For this reason, as a first move, the consortium led by Mediobanca and Unicredit wants to partially remedy the flop of the capital increase which saw an unopted 32% equal to 432 million euros, even if of these, around 142 million will be subscribed from Unipol. Alberto Nagel and Federico Ghizzoni do not despair of being able to place securities for another hundred million, with friends and acquaintances. Among these could be Raffele Miccione, the private banker (close to Lombard families such as the Ricci, masters of the "Le tre Marie" brand) who at the time raked in a large part of the unopted Bpm capital increase in full harmony with Carlo Bonomi (and Mediobanca).
But the financial game risks taking a back seat in the face of the investigations by the judiciary and Consob and, even more, by the media barrage that distinguishes the "independent" press, increasingly aligned for or against Mediobanca as has happened since start of the operation. The pro Nagel front (Corriere della Sera, Sole 24 Ore, La Stampa) exalted the compactness of the shareholders behind the CEO of Piazzetta Cuccia, "victim", like Vincenzo Maranghi in his time, of the duplicity of Salvatore Ligresti (anonymous statement , aka Nagel himself, in La Stampa). Davide Serra, the manager of Algebris, is also deployed by Corriere della Sera in favor of the system solution who, promoted to "voice of London", warns against the risks of a prolonged replacement of the stalemate, instead of a prompt merger among the four companies involved. The risk is the receivership which in turn could not avoid the liquidation of assets and government bonds. A heavy bill for the country and, even more, for Mediobanca. Which would see the value of subordinated loans fade and "thus try to remedy by selling Generali shares". In short, a sort of apocalypse of finance. What about small shareholders? Sooner or later they will realize "that there was no alternative" to Unipol. Pay and ride. Today it is a question of avoiding the risk that "the representatives of the Public Prosecutor's Office revoke the capital increase already subscribed, stopping Unipol on the water's edge".
No less vehement rhetoric on the opposite front. A three-year reconstruction of the country's financial life is staged in La Repubblica in which everything is held through a "fil rouge" that does not allow for contradictions. In summary, Mediobanca, both through Cesare Geronzi's plots and through those of his enemy Nagel, managed the dramatic decline of the Ligresti group, amid robbery and balance sheet violations today being examined by the judiciary, with the primary objective of guaranteeing more powers to Berlusconi or, more simply, to make up for one's mistakes. Today, once the Sator Palladio alternative (supported by Repubblica, snubbed and vilified more than opposed by the pro parlor front) has been discarded, we arrive at a showdown. Or maybe not yet.
“Consob – reads the newspaper of the L'Espresso group – this time, seems intent on not letting go. So much so that in Piazza Verdi someone marveled at the fact that prosecutor Orsi said goodbye to everyone last Saturday and left for vacation. In such a hot phase, there would be much to do and much to investigate the too many miseries of Italian capitalism". It's a pity that Orsi, someone who works as a magistrate and not as a handyman, doesn't feel that the mission involves the sacrifice of the beach.
