“We go to the stock exchange because we are seriously ill, we go to the stock exchange because we seek market support”. With these words Cristiano Carrus, CEO of Veneto Banca, explained to the shareholders the next steps that management intends to take to bring the institute out of the deep crisis into which it has plunged. "This morning A certified email has arrived from Consob – is the relevant announcement made at the meeting – concerning the compulsory convocation of the board of directors. Consob orders the Board of Directors to meet within a week to deal with issues relating to who will be entitled or who will be able to access the capital increase operation”. The 1 billion recapitalization is expected shortly and arrives a few days after the flop of the stock exchange listing of Popolare di Vicenza, in whose aid the Atlante Fund took the field.
THEassembly opened in the morning in a fiery weather so much so that the president Pierluigi Bolla found himself forced to threaten the postponement of the meeting, which then continued on a less agitated basis. The number of shareholders present in the hall is high: 30% of the capital, or 6.154 shareholders on their own or by proxy at the Pala Expo Venice in Marghera. They are called to approve the budget (closed with a loss of 882 million), renew the board of directors and decide whether to bring liability action against the old directors, after hearing the report that the outgoing board will make.
“Everything we have tried to do so far – added Carrus – has not helped; needed horse care for a horse that hasn't had care for too many years. From next Tuesday, God willing, we will try to go on the market”, Carrus said again, noting that at that point the market will evaluate the industrial plan of the institute.
Carrus read the letter sent last Monday by Consob to the Board of Directors of Veneto Banca prefiguring the initiation of a sanctioning procedure. "The important chapters" of the dispute, underlined Carrus, "are essentially five: irregularities in the assessment of the adequacy of the transactions, violation of the duty to behave with diligence and correctness, treatment of sale orders on bank shares, process for defining the price of the bank's shares, communication of false data and information". Carrus noted that this "is the first letter to arrive from Consob", predicting that "others will arrive".
The Veneto Banca shareholders' meeting had opened in a very heated atmosphere. When the treatment of the first item on the agenda has not yet begun, boos and protests from the audience have brought the president Pierluigi Bolla to threaten the suspension of the meeting. Bolla started the work by reading the letter from the ECB to the bank, already disclosed in recent days, and reiterating the findings on the exposure to the bank of some shareholders presenting the list of candidates for the board of directors as an alternative to the one supported by the outgoing board. It was precisely this last step that triggered the reaction of some shareholders, who left their seats and approached the stage occupied by top management. "This is a meeting of Spa – Bolla replied – Don't force me to suspend, don't force me to intervene".
