We will have to wait a few more days for the decision of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court on the appeal filed by Unicredit against the Golden Power of the Government on the offer launched on Bpm bank"The decision is ready today", stated at the beginning of the hearing the president of the first section of the court, Roberto Politi, who then made it known that the publication of the ruling or sentence will take place "by the 16 July".
At the hearing, Piazza Gae Aulenti's lawyers stated that the matter was haunted by "the ghost of discretion, the absence of reasoning," and requested the publication of the ruling. The presiding judge responded that it would arrive within seven days, as required by law. This means publication could occur even before July 7th.
EU Commission: "No decision yet on golden power"
We are also waiting for the Government's use of special powers the EU Commission, following the indiscretion published on Tuesday by Bloomberg, according to which the DgComp is about to send a letter to Palazzo Chigi in which it states that the Italian government has no right to intervene, given that it is a merger which falls under the exclusive competence of the Community.
But Brussels is holding back."No decision has been made yet on the Italian government's use of the golden power”, in UniCredit's operation on Bpm, said Lea Zuber, spokesperson for the Community, specifying that there is no deadline for sending a letter to Rome: “We have not yet concluded any preliminary assessment and we did not send any letterAt the end of May, we sent a couple of questions to Italy, received a response, and are examining the case." Regarding the July 23 deadline for the takeover bid for Banco BPM, the spokeswoman said: "We are fully aware of this context and are working as quickly as possible."
Speaking in general about M&A, without therefore making direct references to the Unicredit-Banco Bpm takeover, another EU spokesperson however indicated what the EU line is: governments “cannot block bank mergers at their discretion,” said the spokesperson responsible for the Commission's financial services. "Once we have confirmed that our vision is that the consolidation in the banking sector at national and cross-border level through mergers creates benefits for businesses and consumersThere are two aspects: there is the prudential aspect on which the ECB and national authorities decide, and there is the competition aspect. It is certain that there is no basis for discretionary decisions to stop operations by governments that can only impose restrictions on the movement of capital if they are proportionate, based on legitimate public interests, cannot be decisions justified purely by the economic context”.
Asked about the matter, the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, he preferred to gloss over it: “Let's wait. I'm things I don't know and can't talk about“, he answered a question about the latest developments in the Golden Power issue.
UniCredit: Germany opposes stake increase in Commerzbank
Meanwhile, the first reactions to the Unicredit's latest move, who announced on Wednesday evening that he had converted part of its derivatives, rising to 20% of Commerzbank's capitalPiazza Gae Aulenti also announced its intention, "in due course," to convert the remaining synthetic position of approximately 9% into shares, thus reaching approximately 29% of the German bank. Unicredit thus becomes Commerzbank's largest shareholder, ahead of the German government, which currently holds 12%.
“We take note of Unicredit's step. The government's position does not change and the government rejects UniCredit's unfriendly and uncoordinated approach, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Finance in Berlin said, responding to a question at a press conference. "The state supports the strategy ofindependence of Commerzbank, and he also made this clear to Unicredit", he added, also underlining that “the State will not cede its stake.”
(Last updated at 14.50:9 PM on July XNUMXth).
