“There is no interest for no acquisitions in Italy”. The CEO of theIntesa Sanpaolo, Charles Messina, to those who asked him if the Bank could consider the acquisition of Ps after rumors that the government is lobbying for a merger have resurfaced in recent days.
Messina argued his no by referring to three issues: the redundancies that an operation of this type would entail, the negative impact on customers and the impossibility of creating value for shareholders with an operation that would create many overlaps.
As regards Intesa's activity, the CEO said that “in the first two months of the year the institution has disbursed medium and long-term credit for 6 billion euro: of these, 5 billion went to families and small and medium-sized enterprises. It's about a growth of 40% compared to the same period last year, which already marked an increase of 40% on the previous year. If there is a correlation between Intesa disbursements and GDP, then this is a sign that there is an acceleration of growth”.
On the front of possible acquisitions, "my preference is to hire people and not to buy banks, but if there were convenience to hire the people that interest us through the acquisition of a small bank we can do it", continued Messina in reference to a possible interest for Bim, Piedmont bank controlled by Veneto Banca.
As for the story Saipem, "when conditions allow it, it will be possible to dispose of the stake – clarified the CEO of Intesa -, but today there is no hurry". The reference is to the share of Saipem that the Bank found itself holding having participated in the guarantee consortium for the capital increase of the plant engineering company of the Eni group.
In general, Intesa continues the “divestiture process e Serene it is one of the holdings on which he is “working”. The company in question controls the A4 motorway, which the Spaniards of Abertis would be watching. The completion of the operation will still require some work but Serenissima is one of those investments that the bank does not consider strategic and which, as foreseen in the plan, will be sold by 2017.
On the internal side, however, “it will be difficult to see the large international funds present in the capital of Intesa Sanpaolo enter the Board of Directors – said the managing director again -. It is not common for international investors to list candidates, even if, in any case, I am the CEO and not a major shareholder”.
Finally, as regards the proposal to introduce a ceiling on the amount of government bonds that banks may have in their portfolios, “it is a measure that is unlikely to be approved – concluded Messina -. Of course, a certain level of diversification is needed and we ourselves have reduced our exposure to Italian government bonds from 90 to 50%. However, for this to be established by regulation, for me, it would be a stretch".
