Atlante, the fund that has acquired over 99% of Banca Popolare di Vicenza, does not envisage "stews or fancy financial transactions" for the institution. This was written by Alessandro Penati, president of Quaestio – the asset management company that controls Atlante – in a letter addressed to the shareholders' meeting of the Veneto bank.
“No credit crunches – he added – but a marked improvement in credit quality; no indiscriminate cost cuts, but efficiency, revenue boost and elimination of luxuries and waste”.
As regards the “ventilated merger with Veneto Banca”, Penati said that “before even talking about a merger, the cleaning work of the two banks must be completed and put them back in a position to stand on their own legs. Then we will see what will be the best solution in the interest of all stakeholders”.
Penati then confirmed that “Atlante is ready to support the recovery and relaunch of the bank. This is why he is working on concrete proposals to help reduce the amount of non-performing loans. Any expressions of interest from financial or industrial partners will be considered only in the case of a real injection of capital and a concrete contribution aimed at supporting the relaunch of the bank, with the aim of getting listed again, but this time successfully ”.
Finally, the number one of Quaestio Sgr reiterated his willingness to propose a liability action against the past management as soon as possible.
In the afternoon, the declarations of CEO Francesco Iorio also arrived, who during the press conference held after the meeting declared that he had no news of the funds involved: "I haven't spoken to any fund since the roadshow ended" on the quotation.
“It seems like an era ago, given what has happened to bank multiples in recent weeks,” he added. "If it was difficult for the market to get close to this bank a month ago, I think it is even more so now", concluded Iorio, underlining his belief that, as the president of Quaestio Sgr, Alessandro Penati, also said, "the priority is to start a recovery process to make the bank more attractive to the market”.
