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
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