Mps, investigation of share purchase

The Milan Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating the purchase of Mps securities and, in particular, the transactions carried out through Banca Akros in order to verify whether there was an agreement kept hidden from the market. The packages were then purchased by Banco Bpm, Anima, Delfin and the Caltagirone group. And as part of this investigation, the special currency police unit of the Gdf, carried out documentary acquisitions in Banca Akros itself, which belongs to the Bpm group (subject of a bid by UniCredit).

In the course of the afternoon, it emerged that it would be UniCredit who would file the complaint, but in the evening a spokesperson clarified that the bank 'has not filed any complaint with the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office. Nor has it filed any complaint in relation to Delfin and Caltagirone'.

Last November, the Ministry of the Economy sold 15% of Monte dei Paschi through an 'accelerated book building' (Abb): the share was bought for 8% by the Banco Bpm-Anima pole while the Caltagirone group and the Del Vecchio family's Delfin each acquired 3.5%.

All this just a few days before the key date of 16 June, the day on which Mediobanca shareholders will have to express their opinion on the offer for Banca Generali. Yesterday, Generali's board of directors decided to strike a blow. In fact, the board decided to send a clear message: the Ops evaluation process has begun. In particular, the company has confirmed that it will 'examine all the commercial, economic and value implications' of Piazzetta Cuccia's proposal on the subsidiary, an offer 'that would define a partnership with a primary leader in the Wealth Management sector'. And precisely for this reason, the Lion has 'initiated the process aimed at fully examining the proposal in full compliance with the group's related party transaction procedure'.

On the evaluation process and its future developments obviously hangs the judgement of Monday's shareholders' meeting. A meeting that, according to the latest indications, should register an attendance close to 80% of the capital, a figure that would in any case be a record, considering that the last key shareholders' meeting had just exceeded 76% attendance.
The figure would be the result of the communications gathered by Piazzetta Cuccia in recent days. 5 June, in fact, was the record date after which shareholders, by 11 June, should have confirmed their ownership of voting rights. On the basis of this, the potential capital present would have been calculated. In order to proceed with the offer, therefore, Piazzetta Cuccia will have to collect just over 40% of the yes votes. At the moment, it seems certain that the Caltagirone group, which has about 10% of the institute, and the possible abstention of the Del Vecchio family's Delfin, which holds 20%, will say no. Also on the table are the banks, credited with around 5%. Mediolanum Group, UnipolSai and Norges Bank will certainly say yes. The game, at present, seems to be played on the edge, but there are still many positions to be deciphered. First and foremost, that of the Benetton group through the safe Edizione and other entrepreneurs present in the Mediobanca consultation pact.