By Valentina Za
MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s Monte dei Paschi bank is focused on completing its integration with Mediobanca as quickly as possible, its CEO said on Wednesday, when asked about potential interest in Banco BPM.
MPS last month wrapped up its 16 billion euro ($19 billion) stock-and-cash acquisition of Mediobanca, the largest deal so far in a flurry of M&A activity redrawing Italy’s financial sector.
After fending off a takeover attempt by UniCredit, Banco BPM CEO Giuseppe Castagna recently named MPS as a possible merger partner, alongside the Italian unit of France’s Credit Agricole. BPM acquired a stake in MPS late last year, while Credit Agricole is Banco BPM’s largest shareholder.
However, speaking at a parliamentary hearing in Rome, MPS CEO Luigi Lovaglio said he had his hands full at the moment, though Banco BPM was “a great bank”.
“We work with them through Anima,” Lovaglio said, referring to the fund manager both banks partner with, and which BPM has recently acquired.
“We work well, but today we’re fully focused on Mediobanca. We believe the speed of the integration is critical for its success, so we’re fully committed.”
The Mediobanca deal has handed MPS, which was bailed out by the state in 2017 after a decade-long crisis, control of one of Italy’s most prestigious financial institutions.
“The Mediobanca brand is sacred,” Lovaglio said, adding it was too early to say whether MPS would proceed to delist the rival of which it owns 86.3%.
Through Mediobanca, MPS has also become a major investor in insurer Generali, Italy’s most prized financial asset.
Lovaglio said the Generali stake offered welcomed revenue diversification to MPS, but like any investment, it must deliver adequate risk- and capital-adjusted returns.
He said he had presented both BPM and Mediobanca as merger options to Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti on December 16, 2022, and had been forced to pick the “transformational” Mediobanca deal over the “merger of equals” with BPM due to UniCredit’s move.
While MPS is a commercial bank focused on lending to small and medium-sized firms, Mediobanca operates in investment banking and wealth management. Its only retail business is consumer finance, where it partners with MPS.
($1 = 0.8624 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Alvise Armellini and Nia Williams)
