UniCredit shareholdings show it is foreign says Salvini

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 26 - The shareholding structure of Italy's second biggest bank UniCredit shows it is a foreign institute, Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday saying "I have nothing against anyone" but warning that UniCredit's bid for third-biggest bank Banco BPM should not jeopardise the creation of Italy's third banking hub via a merger between the latter and Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS).
    The largest shareholder in UniCredit, with 7%, is the American fund BlackRock.
    Some three-quarters of the capital is held by institutional investors (other banks, insurance companies, and so on), of which 69% are foreign investors.
    Then there is a small share of Italian institutional investors (6%).
    "This is what the shareholder composition says," said Salvini when asked why he deems UniCredit a foreign bank.
    "However," he said, "I have nothing against anyone, as long as the third banking hub that is being created is not called into question." (ANSA).