Shareholders are warned: Banca Popolare di Bari will avoid bankruptcy only if it is transformed into a joint stock company. This is the message launched by the number one of the three subjects involved in the rescue - Invitalia, Mediocredito Centrale and the Interbank Deposit Protection Fund - who spoke on Wednesday before the Finance commission of the Chamber on the decree law concerning the Apulian institute. Thursday was the turn of the Bank of Italy, according to which it is desirable "other private subjects are involved in the operation to help strengthen it, in line with the objective of responding to logic, criteria and market conditions".
"Among the conditions precedent that we have placed in the agreement signed by Mcc with the Fitd and the commissioners - said Domenico Arcuri, managing director of Invitalia - there is the transformation of the Bank into a Spa. Without this transformation, the operation could not go after you".
Another precondition, indicated this time by the CEO of the Mcc, Bernardo Mattarella, is that Popolare di Bari carry out "a derisking process, ie a reduction in the stock of non-performing loans".
The attack on the Popolare di Bari by the president of Consob, Paolo Savona was very harsh: "Over 700 million have gone up in smoke" of savers.
INVITALIA LISTS THE RESCUE STEPS
After the conversion of the text in Parliament, "there is a commitment, by 15 March, to start and conclude the due-diligence - added Arcuri - then by mid-April there will be the industrial plan to understand the actual amount of the capital increase, and then a co-investment agreement will have to be made with the Fitd”. Finally, by 30 June "the assembly for the transition to a joint-stock company must be held, for the adoption of the new statute". After that, by September or at the latest by the end of the year, the authorizations of the various authorities will arrive and therefore the actual rescue will be able to start.
INTERVENTIONS OF THE INTERBANK FUND AND MEDIOCREDITO CENTRALE
In the architecture outlined in a framework agreement finalized on 31 December, the Interbank Deposit Guarantee Fund intervened with an injection of 310 million euro and will further intervene in the bank's capital up to a total maximum amount of 700 million. Mcc, on the other hand, "may intervene by subscribing to a capital increase for an amount that will be determined on the basis of a market return on invested capital", specified Massimiliano Cesare, president of Mediocredito Centrale.
BANKITALIA: MORE PRIVATE INVESTORS NEEDED
Also according to the deputy general manager of the Bank of Italy, Alessandra Perrazzelli - heard on Thursday in the commission - the transformation of Popolare di Bari into a joint stock company will have to be done "promptly and without hesitation", because "delays or uncertainties could call into question the success of the operation".
Perrazzelli then revealed an aspect not yet revealed of the framework agreement between Fitd and Mediocredito Centrale, namely "the adoption of measures in favor of Popolare's current shareholders aimed, among other things, at encouraging participation in the meeting" to the capital increase and the contextual transformation into a joint stock company.
For the bailout to be successful, continued Perrazzelli, "the new investors must immediately assume a strong role of direction and impetus, aimed at orienting the bank with determination towards credible industrial prospects in the medium-long term". A role that belongs to Mcc given that the Fitd is then destined to leave the shareholding structure.
But that will not be enough: for the relaunch of Popolare di Bari, Bankitalia hopes that "other private entities will also be involved in the operation to help strengthen it, in line with the objective of responding to market logics, criteria and conditions". The operation, in fact, is open to the contribution of "other local banks, non-bank investors, industrial partners".
Finally, Perrazzelli underlined that "forms of relief will have to be identified for cases of incorrect behavior recorded during the latest capital increases".
SAVONA: "700 MILLION OF SAVERS UP IN SMOKE"
The last audition in chronological order was that of Paolo Savona. According to the number one of Consob, the shareholders' equity of Banca Popolare di Bari, which as at 30 June was equal to 442 million euros, “it must be assumed that it was lost as a result of the losses. There is talk of about 70.000 small shareholders. The subordinated bonds amount to 291 million euros, all the other bonds have already been repaid”. And the remaining liabilities are over 700 million euros.
Savona then made it known that Consob had requested the disclosure of updated financial statement data at the end of the year, but that this information was not made public for reasons of financial stability.
