By Valentina Za and Lefteris Papadimas
MILAN/ATHENS (Reuters) -UniCredit has doubled its stake in Greece’s Alpha Bank to nearly 20% subject to regulatory approval, the Italian bank said on Wednesday, as it diverted its attention away from M&A stumbling blocks elsewhere.
UniCredit has challenged in court government conditions hampering a bid for domestic peer Banco BPM, while its ambitions to tie up with Germany’s Commerzbank are also on hold due to German government hostility.
UniCredit said it has used derivatives bought through leading investment banks to buy 9.7% of Alpha at a discount to the latest closing price. It already owned 9.6% of Alpha.
Alpha Bank’s CEO Vassilios Psaltis and Greek central banker Yannis Stournaras both welcomed the move.
“It’s a very positive development for the two banks,” Stournaras said, adding that UniCredit was buying Dutch investment group Reggeborgh’s stake in Alpha.
UniCredit said it would now seek ECB approval to acquire up to 29.9% of Alpha.
Andrea Orcel, a veteran dealmaker UniCredit hired as CEO in 2021 to grow its footprint after years of restructuring, has placed the lender at the heart of the M&A wave sweeping the sector – but with little success so far.
In late 2024, UniCredit used derivatives to acquire 28% of Commerzbank. It bought a stake in Assicurazioni Generali too, but Orcel on Tuesday ruled out a takeover offer for Italy’s biggest insurer, after a warning from rival Intesa Sanpaolo against such a move.
Bankers say UniCredit and Intesa are each keen to avoid the other pouncing on Generali.
UniCredit became the main shareholder in Alpha in late 2023, buying the Greek bank bailout fund’s stake for 293.5 million euros ($332 million).
That deal saw UniCredit acquire also most of Alpha’s Romanian business and strike a partnership to sell its own asset management products to the 3.5 million clients of Greece’s fourth-largest bank.
The increased holding will now allow the bank to book the investment in a way that generates an additional net profit of around 180 million euros per year, UniCredit said, adding it would return that money to shareholders.
The impact on UniCredit’s core capital will be of around 40 basis points, it said.
Orcel has bet on generous payouts to grow the share price and prepare for potential acquisitions. However, in raising its profit outlook for the year this month, UniCredit said deals provided “interesting possibilities” but it would only pursue them if they improved its “unmatched” standalone prospects.
($1 = 0.8835 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Joe Bavier)
