The French sell
Axa, the second largest shareholder of MPS after the Treasury, sells. The French insurance group which holds a 7.94% stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena (100,008,907 shares) announces the start of the sale of 100,000,000 shares of the bank, in a private placement through an accelerated bookbuilding reserved for institutional investors. Following the expected completion of the offer, according to a note from the group, Axa will maintain (directly or indirectly) 0.0007% of the Bank’s share capital.
In addition to generating a large capital gain (about 60-70 million euros), the sale takes place at a very particular moment in view of the next shareholders’ meeting. “As a long-standing partner of the Bank, Axa has supported the Bank by participating in its most recent capital increase as a financial investment. As Axa does not wish to be represented on the board of directors at the next general meeting of the Bank’s shareholders, nor to influence the broader long-term strategy of the Bank, Axa considers it appropriate to sell the stake purchased in the capital increase”, reads the Note. The offer “has no impact on Axa’s partnership with the Bank or on Axa’s commitment to the Italian market”.
Affair between the French?
The placement, entrusted to Exane Bnp Paribas, takes place at a price between 2.33 and 2.47 euros, at a 10-15% discount on today’s closing price of the stock, reads a message to investors. Evidently the French have a certain haste in delivering their block of shares so much so that one of the questions concerns possible institutional buyers. Is it possible that behind the French there are other French?
Final terms of the offer are scheduled for Tuesday 28 February at the latest. Settlement and delivery of the shares are expected to take place on 2 March.