Green light for the sale of 80% of Banca Carige from the Interbank Deposit Protection Fund (Fitd) to Bper. With the ok that came on February 14 from Fitd, the first 80% shareholder of the Genoese institute, the Ligurian bank’s handing over to the Modenese group led by Piero Montani, Genoese by birth and former CEO of Carige since 2013 to 2016.
Bper Banca moves to Carige, while Cerberus is among the interested parties
Carlotta Scozzari
Bper, at first, in mid-December, had proposed the symbolic amount of 1 euro for the Ligurian bank to take over the majority of 88.3% mainly in the hands of Fitd and minimally to Cassa Centrale Banca ( it had 8.34% but around Christmas it was close to 5%), suggesting the possibility of a takeover bid (takeover bid) aimed at small shareholders for 0.80 euros per share. All this by requiring that Carige be recapitalized in advance, by the first shareholder Fund, for 1 billion: in practice, a “dowry”.
The Fitd, however, had refused, for statute issues but also for the objective difficulty in dealing with such an onerous operation that would have caused the losses linked to the investment in Carige dating back to 2019 to rise to over 1.6 billion.
Then the “rapprochement” took place: Bper, in the first days of January, had developed a new offer, which, without prejudice to the 80 cents offer for small shareholders, provided for a “dowry” of 530 million, almost halved compared to the previous proposal, and the purchase for only 1 euro of the 80% stake held by the Fitd. The parties, after having negotiated exclusively, thus agreed on the basis of these numbers.
On Piazza Affari, the Carige shares, on a day of sales for the stock exchanges due to geopolitical tensions in Ukraine, celebrated with a jump of 2.28% to 0.79 euros, a price close to the 80 cents at which it will be launched. ‘Takeover bid for minority shareholders. As mentioned, the Fitd will still have to take on a new share capital increase for the Ligurian institute, of 530 million: it will be the fifth in eight years, and will bring the overall losses recorded by the Interbank Fund itself for the investment in Carige. (with an initial value of 615 million) over 1.1 billion, adding to the 500 million of write-downs already made and the probable cancellation of the stake in the bank, which in the last balance sheet was worth just over 100 million.