Latest news with #Intesa
Reuters
27-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
UniCredit CEO rules out move on Generali
MILAN, May 27 (Reuters) - UniCredit Chief Executive Andrea Orcel ruled out on Tuesday the bank could make a play for Assicurazioni Generali ( opens new tab, Italy's biggest insurer in which it has recently acquired 6.7%. The stake, which UniCredit ( opens new tab has called a financial investment, the same description it has used for its 28% Commerzbank ( opens new tab holding, has raised speculation about Generali's future as the insurer cuts ties with its main shareholder. Generali's main investor, Mediobanca ( opens new tab, plans to dispose of its 13% stake under a scheme to fend off suitor Monte dei Paschi di Siena ( opens new tab. Mediobanca would use its Generali shares as payment to buy the insurer's private banking unit Banca Generali ( opens new tab. On Monday, Intesa CEO Carlo Messina said he would ring Orcel to dissuade him from a Generali acquisition were UniCredit to make a move for the insurer, opening up a third M&A front. UniCredit has launched a buyout offer for smaller rival Banco BPM ( opens new tab. Speaking at the same FABI union conference a day after Messina, Orcel was asked if there were any risks the Intesa CEO would have to make that phone call. "Absolutely not," Orcel said. Orcel also played down any potential interest for Banca Generali, saying such networks of financial advisers traded at valuation multiples much higher than banks and a combination with a branch franchise would offer little scope for cost savings. Orcel said distribution was a key element of wealth management and it made sense for a bank to hold onto any distribution capacity, but he added that Generali may have different strategies in parting ways with Banca Generali. Asked if UniCredit, as an investor in Generali, supported the Banca Generali deal, Orcel said the decision would be taken by the insurer's board and not be put to its shareholders. However, some other Generali shareholders have raised doubts about whether the decision can be left solely to the board, without a shareholder vote.
Reuters
13-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo adds to list of banks shunning Papua LNG project
PARIS, Feb 13 - Italy's largest banking group, Intesa Sanpaolo ( opens new tab, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said they will not finance a $10 billion LNG project in Papua New Guinea, as environmental groups lobby against the project being developed by France's TotalEnergies ( opens new tab, Australia's Santos ( opens new tab and U.S.-based Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), opens new tab. Energy majors are refocusing spending on more profitable oil and gas businesses and in many cases pulling back from renewable investments, but they are increasingly having to turn to Chinese and other Asian lenders and use more of their own money as green financing rules and pressure from climate advocacy groups spur Western financiers to shun fossil fuels. In a letter dated January 15 published on Intesa's website and not previously reported, the bank said, "Intesa Sanpaolo does not intend to participate in the financing of the Papua LNG project." Intesa did not respond to a request for further comment. The letter was a reply to a group of environmental campaigners which wrote to financiers in December urging them not to participate in the project. Intesa and Manila-based ADB have funded similar projects in the past, notably Exxon's first Papuan LNG project which started up a decade ago, but since then ADB has stopped financing upstream ventures. "ADB will not support any natural gas exploration or drilling activities and will be selective in its support for midstream and downstream natural gas," Keiju Mitsuhashi, the bank's energy director, told Reuters on Wednesday. So far 13 banks and credit export agencies, some of which financed an earlier LNG project in Papua New Guinea, have stated they will not lend for the new project, including Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, UniCredit, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank. TotalEnergies, which holds a leading 37.55% operational stake in Papua LNG, did not respond to a request for comment. A final investment decision (FID) on the 5.4 million metric tons per year project which would double gas production in the impoverished South Pacific nation, has been repeatedly delayed. French bank Credit Agricole pulled out as financial adviser last year and has been replaced by Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. In October, Papua's state-owned Kumul Petroleum, which has the option to purchase a project stake of up to 20.5%, told local press, opens new tab that costs had risen from an expected $10 billion to between $13 billion and $18 billion, with a FID expected in late 2025 or early 2026. TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne last week said partners were "working hard to get it back on track at acceptable capex." Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here.
