Latest news with #GiuseppeCastagna
Reuters
23-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Banco BPM says it will appeal against suspension of UniCredit bid
ROME, May 23 (Reuters) - The Chief Executive of Banco BPM said on Friday the bank will appeal to an administrative court against a decision by bourse regulator Consob to suspend a takeover bid by Unicredit. Giuseppe Castagna told daily Il Sole 24 Ore that the current stalemate was preventing Banco BPM from taking part in the intense M&A activity underway in Italy's banking sector.
Reuters
07-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Banco BPM CEO sees room to explore M&A options if UniCredit drops its bid
MILANO, May 7 (Reuters) - Banco BPM ( opens new tab sees room to explore other potential M&A opportunities if Unicredit ( opens new tab drops its takeover bid, Chief Executive Giuseppe Castagna said, adding however that the standalone path "is very satisfactory". UniCredit's all-share offer is in doubt after the government set conditions to clear it which UniCredit says are harmful. The offer is currently at a discount to market values and therefore unlikely to succeed without a sweetener, which the government's conditions make more unlikely. "We will see what will happen with the offer," Castagna told analysts when asked if his bank would be open to assessing other M&A scenarios were UniCredit to walk away. "We consider ourselves an important part of the potential consolidation in Italy," he added. "For sure there will be room to explore other potential opportunities, even if we are very much concentrated on our standalone pattern right now".
Reuters
30-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Mediobanca's Banca Generali deal suits Monte dei Paschi bid, MPS investor says
MILAN, April 30 (Reuters) - A bid by Monte dei Paschi di Siena's acquisition target Mediobanca for Banca Generali is a plus for the takeover project, the head of a leading Monte dei Paschi ( opens new tab investor said on Wednesday. To fend off Monte dei Paschi's (MPS) takeover proposal, Mediobanca ( opens new tab on Monday announced a 6.3 billion euro bid for wealth manager Banca Generali ( opens new tab, a network of financial advisers owned by insurer Generali ( opens new tab. Mediobanca CEO Alberto Nagel has said approval from his bank's shareholders for the Banca Generali deal could imply they would then reject the MPS proposal. Mediobanca shareholders vote on June 16 on the Banca Generali deal. The MPS offer will run in July. MPS does not see the two transactions as mutually exclusive, with people in the Tuscan bank's camp saying Banca Generali is an asset the combined entity would have been interested in. Giuseppe Castagna, the CEO of MPS investor Banco BPM, on Wednesday confirmed that Banca Generali would make sense for MPS to own if it acquired Mediobanca. Banco BPM became an MPS investor in November, buying a 5% stake from Italy's government. The stake is set to reach 9% because Banco BPM has successfully completed a buyout offer for Anima Holding ( opens new tab, which owns another 4%. Speaking on the sidelines of BPM's annual meeting, Castagna said: "From an industrial standpoint I would not be unhappy as a shareholder if MPS came to own Banca Generali" by acquiring Mediobanca. "To own a wealth manager of the size of Banca Generali can only add industrial value," he said. Mediobanca's bid for Banca Generali is the latest in a raft of hostile takeover attempts rocking Italian finance. Banco BPM is trying to fight a buyout bid from UniCredit ( opens new tab which it says would benefit UniCredit shareholders at the expense of Banco BPM's investors. ($1 = 0.8800 euros)
Reuters
28-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Banco BPM rebuffs UniCredit's worries over ability to lend after Anima setback
MILAN, March 28 (Reuters) - Banco BPM ( opens new tab CEO Giuseppe Castagna on Friday rebuffed concerns raised by suitor UniCredit ( opens new tab about the impact on BPM's ability to lend of a regulatory setback it suffered in its bid for fund manager Anima Holding ( opens new tab. BPM said earlier this week it had received a negative opinion from the European Central Bank on its request to take advantage of favourable rules that would sharply reduce the impact of the Anima acquisition on its capital ratios. In a statement published late on Thursday, UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel said Banco BPM could see its ability to lend impaired given the amount of capital needed for the Anima deal. UniCredit, Italy's second-biggest bank, urged Banco BPM to speedily clarify the implications so it could assess what to do in relation to its own move for the smaller peer. "Current capital levels and those projected after the Anima bid are adequate," Castagna told an internal event on Friday. He said Banco BPM had lent almost 100 billion euros to companies over the past five years, and a further 2.5 billion euros so far this year. "We have the ability and the will to keep going," Castagna said. "I'm glad I'm able to reassure those who appear to worry about ability to lend." Banco BPM on Thursday said it would proceed with the Anima buy even without taking advantage of the rules, known as the Danish Compromise. The ECB's opinion has dealt a blow to BPM shareholders' hopes of extracting a bigger premium from UniCredit which in November unveiled a buyout offer it is expected to launch in a month or so. "The ECB's position confirms the appropriateness of the premium implicit in the UniCredit offer for BPM," UniCredit said. (This story has been refiled to fix a typo in fourth bullet point)
Reuters
04-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Banco BPM to launch offer for Anima from the second half of March, CEO says
ROME, March 4 (Reuters) - Italy's Banco BPM ( opens new tab aims to launch its offer to buy the fund manager Anima Holding ( opens new tab from the second half of March, CEO Giuseppe Castagna told Il Sole 24 ore daily in an interview published on Tuesday. Banco secured shareholder approval on Friday for its decision to improve its offer Anima, a key plank of the Italian bank's defence strategy against suitor UniCredit ( opens new tab. UniCredit in November launched a 10-billion-euro ($10.48 billion) all-share offer for the smaller rival. ($1 = 0.9541 euros)
