UniCredit bid doesn't reflect our real potential says BPM

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 26 - Italy's third-largest lender Banco BPM said Tuesday a 10 billion euro hostile takeover bid from the country's second-biggest bank UniCredit did not reflect its true potential.
    Unicredit's offer "does not reflect in any way the profitability and further potential for value creation for Banco BPM shareholders", said the bank's board after analysing the bid for the first time.
    The board reiterated that the offer was not solicited and recalled that its own potential value "is further strengthened by the extraordinary transactions recently announced, which are in addition to the actions already contained in the 2023-26 industrial plan and which will result in an update of the objectives of the plan itself, already partly anticipated to the market".
    The BPM board added that it was concerned about repercussions on employment and fallout on social issues from the takeover bid.
    The gross cost synergies estimated by UniCredit for 900 million are "more than a third of Banco Bpm's cost base" and for this reason "raise strong concerns about the foreseeable repercussions on employment and social issues", said the board of directors in a statement.
    "Moreover, these synergies, like those of revenue, are not at all valued in the conditions of the offer", the note stressed.
    The BPM boar also said it would remain focused on its bid for Italy's largest independent asset management fund, Anima.
    Banco BPM, it said, "remains focused on the implementation of the 2023-2026 plan, on the execution of the takeover bid for Anima and on the consequent update of the industrial plan, not neglecting any strategic option that can further contribute to the objective of creating value for shareholders and for all other stakeholders of the Banco BPM group".
    photo: Banco BPM CEO Giuseppe Castagna (ANSA).