The push came from Basel. The European Stoxx index for the sector ended up 2,1% after the news of the agreement, reached yesterday, between the central governors on the calculation of the "financial leverage" ratio, the minimum guarantee capital against loans and other credit assets. In the last round of the negotiations, a softening of the general framework has been achieved. The agreement brings benefits especially to large investment banks which will be able to amplify the use of financial leverage.
Commerzbank rose by 5,5%, Deutsche Bank +4,7%, Ubs +3,1%, Barclays +2,8%. The sentiment remained positive on the European stock exchanges with the Ibex which scored +0,73%, the Dax 30 +0,39%, the Ftse 100 +0,26% and the Cac 40 +0,3%. The Ftse Mib closed up 0,66% at 19.697 points. The Btp/Bund differential still at 207 basis points and the yield on the Italian ten-year bond at 3,89%.
Piazza Affari benefited from the successful outcome of theBtp auction and signs of recovery of the Italian industry. Yesterday the Treasury successfully carried out the largest BTP placement since May 2011. A total of 8,2 billion euros of securities were placed on three maturities, the target was 6,75/8,25 billion. In November, Italian industrial production rose by 0,3% month-on-month and 1,4% year-on-year.
Despite the rising spread the banking sector of the Ftse Mib benefited from the agreement reached by the Basel Committee's supervisory group. Banco Popolare is still up +3,28% followed by +3,08%. Also lively were Unicredit +1,87%, Bpm +2,73% and Bper +1,67%, Intesa also up +1,1% and Mediobanca +1,25%. Monte Paschi is more cautious, +0,17% to 0,1813 euros, in view of today's board meeting, when the future of the president Alessandro Profumo and the CEO Fabrizio Viola will be clarified.
Azimuth it continued its rally also in the wake of Goldman Sachs' decision to include the stock in its Conviction Buy List, indicating the stock as the top pick in the asset management sector in Europe. He also acted as a catalyst for a possible takeover of Aletti Gestielle.
"The great thing about being a private organization is that you have the right to decide your own future." As Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler, replied to those who asked him if the Italian unions and government will have a say on the industrial plan being defined for the group that will arise from the merger of Lingotto with the American subsidiary. “We will do with the Fiat-Chrysler plan what we did here with Chrysler, what we did in Latin America, what we did in China”.
No guarantee to Italian unions and government? “No guarantees have been given to anyone since I started this job,” added the Italian-Canadian manager. Marchionne understands that it is “a difficult issue for the country. One of the best things the country can do for itself is try to adjust its expectations to what global markets are willing to offer and whether the country can play a role in helping make this transition. Politics? “I am not afraid of anything. I hope it doesn't create obstacles,” he concluded.
The president of Lingotto, John Elkann, said during a press conference organized on the occasion of the Detroit Auto Show that the next Fiat/Chrysler strategic plan will run for three years and that the entire duration of the plan will be under the management of Sergio Marchionne.
On the upside Campari, +2,27%, with the news of the acquisition of Beam Inc by the Japanese Suntory Holding for approximately 13,6 billion dollars, and Fiat (+1,19% to 6,79 euros). Shop on Yoox (+1,91% to 31,94 euros) which recovered its losses in the middle of the session after reaching intraday lows of 30,06 euros during the morning on the news that the group's number one, Federico Marchetti, sold out market 250.000 shares (0,4% of the capital) at 31,2 euros each.
Instead, investors decided to do some profit-taking on Telecom Italy (-0,86% to 0,8065 euro) which in the last period has performed very well in the wake of rumors relating to Tim Brasil, reaching above 0,8 euro. The Telecom Italia Board of Directors will meet on Thursday to take stock of the group's corporate governance and decide on any changes, which primarily concern the strengthening of the procedure on related parties. Meanwhile, according to what Radiocor has learned, the convening of another council on February 6th is already ready, which could possibly be an opportunity to deepen the points left open.
Still in view of the board, between tonight and tomorrow the owner of Findim, Marco Fossati, will send the tlc group the document with the assessments on the economic value of Tim Brasil: the figure would be around 20 billion euros (for 100%) , considering the multiples at which Telefonica bought Vivo, equal to 10 times the EBITDA. Asati, on the other hand, indicates a valuation of at least 15 billion for the South American asset. The main issue on the board table on Thursday, which will be anticipated on the eve of the control and risk committee and the nomination committee, will be the motion of the independent directors, who will ask to consider any transaction in Brazil a transaction with related parties "of greater significance", topic already raised but not dealt with during the last Telecom board meeting.
This means that, should the motion pass, it will be up to a committee made up only of independent advisers, with the assistance of an advisor, to pre-evaluate any offer on Brazil, which will then be considered by the board of directors. Remaining on the subject of governance, Asati and Findim hope that the CEO of Telecom, Marco Patuano, will bring the proposal to amend the statute to the Board of Directors, abolishing the rule which assigns the nomination of 4/5 of the board to the majority list.
In the event of a green light from the board of directors, the resolution will pass to the scrutiny of the extraordinary shareholders' meeting: the Association of Telecom's small shareholders requests that the issue not be dealt with during the budget meeting in mid-April, which is already quite complex, but an earlier meeting, which could be convened by a later board. On the investigation front, Consob has also included the voting choices in the meeting of 20 December in the vein concerning the BlackRock fund, in which the US fund, like other investors, had a tripartite attitude: a part of the shares did not appear at the meeting (5,5% of a total of 7,8% of the capital with voting rights was present), one voted in favor of the revocation of the board proposed by Fossati, another abstained.
Although this attitude is a practice among large international investors, Consob wonders if this behavior can be explained by the dynamics adopted by the large funds or is it an attempt to sidetrack the investigations aimed at verifying the existence of a possible hidden agreement between Telefonica and Blackrock.
