|
BCI, Intesa agree to merge
|
 |
July 1, 1999: 8:54 a.m. ET
$290B combination forms largest Italian banking company
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Shares of Banca Commerciale Italiana rose and Banca Intesa fell in Milan Thursday after the companies confirmed their plans to merge and create Italy's largest banking company.
Intesa's offer for 70 percent of BCI's capital values the Milan-based group at 14.6 billion euros ($15.1 billion). Combined, the new company will have assets of some $290 billion. The company calculated that its combined market capitalization would be 27.5 billion euros.
BCI investors applauded the deal, driving the shares up almost 2 percent to 7.20 euros. Intesa shares slid just over 1 percent to 4.69 euros.
Intesa chairman Giovanni Bazoli said he had already cleared the merger with the Bank of Italy, although the central bank has not yet given the deal formal clearance.
The merger, recommended by both bank's boards late Wednesday, comes just six weeks after Unicredito failed in a hostile offer for BCI. That bid valued BCI at 8.50 euros per share compared with the 7.80 value attributed to the stock by Intesa's all-stock offer. Unicredito's bid never achieved regulatory approval.
The BCI-Intesa deal was brokered by the powerful Milan merchant bank Mediobanca, which will form part of a shareholder pact for the new entity that includes France's Credit Agricole, Italian insurance company Generali and Germany's Commerzbank (FCBK).
Several attempts at consolidation in Italy's banking sector have ended in failure in recent months. BCI had previously attempted to join with Banca di Roma. The urge to merge is founded on the belief that Italian financial institutions need to achieve greater size to compete in the European markets.
Unicredito finds new partner?
Unicredito, jilted by BCI, may have found an investor of its own. Deutsche Bank (FDBK) -- fresh from its acquisition of the American bank Bankers Trust and seeking to raise its presence in Italy -- may be interested in boosting the tiny stake of Unicredito it bought earlier this year, the Financial Times reported Thursday.
Rolf Breuer, Deutsche's senior executive, told the newspaper he wants to buy all or part of the 38 percent stake in Unicredito that is being sold by three Italian charitable foundations.
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
