Intesa Sanpaolo won the battle for the takeover and control of Where's Banca two days in advance: to Ops, which will close on Thursday 30 July, 71,91% of the share capital of UBI has already adhered, bypassing the crucial threshold of 67% which will allow the bank led by Carlo Messina to proceed with the merger with the prey bank.
Decisive for the success of Intesa was the adhesion of the historical families of Bergamo and Brescia gathered in the Car, the share group which includes the Bombassei, the Bosatelli, the Gussalli Beretta, the Radici and which holds 19% of Ubi Banca. After the yes of the Cuneo Foundation, of the Banca del Monte di Lombardia, of Cattolica Insurance – which just yesterday evening closed the collection of votes for its transformation into a joint-stock company – the membership of the CAR, which sold its life dearly after the initial refusal, has closed the circle and paved the way for the success of Intesa Sanpaolo and in particular of Charles Messina, who has put his face on this operation and who is now at the helm not only of the leading Italian bank, but of one of the major European banking groups.
Now all we have to do is wait for the provisional results of the PEO which will be announced on Thursday evening and the final ones on 4 August, after which the bank will pay the Ubi shareholders who delivered their securities in the Intesa Sanpaolo PEO and who therefore they will receive 17 Intesa shares for every 10 UBI plus a cash prize.
Entente's Ops was and is the largest operation of Italian finance after the lockdown – the other being the transformation of Cattolica Assicurazioni into a joint stock company, the result of which will be revealed in Saturday's meeting – but for the Italian banking system, more than a point of arrival, it can be considered a starting point for new mergers. For the other Italian banks it opens the season of consolidation, as the Supervisory Authorities have been recommending for some time, and from today the market will study even more carefully the moves of the possible protagonists, ranging from Unicredit – even if on the international side more than on the national one – a Bper and Bpm bank, without forgetting the dossier Ps, from which the Treasury will have to exit next year.
Watch out, therefore, also to the MY BAG, where bank stocks, both as a result of the risk and the fallout from the Recovery Fund, will have the opportunity to recover ground, even if they will have to postpone the distribution of dividends, as requested again yesterday by the ECB.
°°°° At the end of July 30, adhesions to the Ops rose to 75,6%
