Banca Mediolanum: EU Court confirms ECB stop on Berlusconi acquisition

The Court of Justice of the EU rejected the appeal against the decision of the ECB, invested with a proposal from the Bank of Italy, with which it refused to authorize the acquisition of a qualified stake in the capital of Banca Mediolanum. The European Central Bank had justified its decision by explaining that Berlusconi “did not meet the integrity requirement applicable to holders of qualifying holdings due to his conviction in 2013 for tax fraud”. In 2015, the financial holding company Mediolanum was merged with its subsidiary, Banca Mediolanum. Taking into account its stake in the share capital of Mediolanum, Fininvest, majority owned by Silvio Berlusconi, became the owner of a stake in the capital of Banca Mediolanum. Previously, in 2014, the Bank of Italy had decided, on the one hand, to order the suspension of the applicants’ voting rights in Mediolanum and the sale of their holdings exceeding 9.99% and, on the other, to reject their request for authorization relating to the holding of a qualified shareholding in that body, for the reason that Berlusconi no longer satisfied the integrity requirement as a result of the 2013 conviction for tax fraud. This decision of the Bank of Italy was overturned by the ruling of the Council of State of 3 March 2016. Following the incorporation of Mediolanum by Banca Mediolanum and the ruling of the Council of State of 3 March 2016, the Bank of Italy and the European Central Bank have launched a new assessment procedure the acquisition of a qualified shareholding of the applicants in Banca Mediolanum. At the end of this procedure, the decision of the ECB arrives. And today the rejection by the EU Court of the appeal against this decision.