UniCredit drawing up red-flag blueprint on Monte Paschi - sources reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Merger deal with UniCredit still elusive Legal risks, fragile performance make MPS unattractive
ROME, June 23 (Reuters) - Italy’s Treasury is reviewing options to offload Monte dei Paschi (MPS), including making it easier for a buyer to spin-off some of the ailing bank’s assets, three sources told Reuters.
Political infighting last month forced Rome to drop a costly Treasury scheme aimed at easing a sale of MPS to UniCredit, Italy’s second-largest bank.
And results from a Europe-wide banking stress tests due at the end of July are expected to highlight the fragility of MPS, four years after a bailout that cost taxpayers 5.4 billion euros ($6.5 billion) and handed the Italian state its current 64% stake.
Italian financial group Unipol has raised its stake in Popolare di Sondrio to 7%, in a move that may ease a tie-up between the regional bank and bigger rival BPER Banca.
Rome may re-propose the scheme for approval at a later date Treasury wants draft solution for troubled Monte Paschi by July (Adds details, comment from sources, background)
ROME, May 20 (Reuters) - Italy has dropped a mooted measure lifting a cap on tax incentives for bank mergers from a decree the cabinet is set to approve on Thursday, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
The measure, which had been proposed by the Treasury, had boosted the merger appeal of Banco BPM, Italy’s third-largest bank, fuelling investor bets about a potential takeover by rival UniCredit.
Instead, the decree is set to give lenders only slightly more time to approve potential deals.