A lot of water has passed under the bridges since then, and also a lot: Carige has officially become part of the Bper galaxy: but the troubled past, although behind it, has existed. And today came the shock news: the EU Court of Luxembourg sanctioned the victory of the small shareholder Francesca Corneli against the ECB. Thus sanctioning a sort of victory for David against Goliath.
Court it effectively annulled the decision of the ECB which placed Banca Carige under extraordinary administration. This was communicated by the court itself, which explained that it believes that the ECB is “incurred in an error of law in determining the legal basis used to adopt the contested decisions “.
The news of the lawsuit launched by the small shareholder of Carige Francesca Corneli was released in July 2019.
Francesca Corneli had presented two appeals against the ECB to the Court of the European Union. Objective, with the first appeal: “Have a copy of the provision with which the extraordinary administration of Banca Carige was ordered” to then ask, with the second appeal, cancellation.
Historic ruling: small shareholder Carige defeats the ECB
So we read in the note issued by the small shareholder, legal advisor and former vice president of Asati (the association of small shareholders of Telecom Italia).
At the time of the appeal Corneli had 200,000 Carige shares, equal at that time to 0.000361% of the share capital of the Ligurian Bank.
“Since 2 January, Banca Carige has been in extraordinary administration: a provision that is highly prejudicial to the various corporate and property rights of its shareholders. On 5 January, three days after the commissioner, I first asked the ECB, but also the other institutions involved (Banca Carige, Bank of Italy, Registrar of companies), to have a copy of the provision. Only on 2 May was the provision deposited by the Commissioners in the Chamber of Commerce: eleven pages, of which ten were omitted. Likewise for the extension for a duration twice as long as the initial one “.
The shareholder note continued, adding how the ECB had denied access to the document:
“Only on May 29, the ECB definitively denied me access to the document, referring to a general principle of confidentiality on all supervisory activities, stating: ‘The ECB has an obligation to report on its work mainly to the European Parliament […] and also to report regularly to the Council of the Union “.
In the note communicating his decision to appeal, Francesca Corneli recalled that Carige’s shareholding was characterized by a retail component equal to 30% of the capital and he added that he had also informed other small shareholders and significant shareholders of his initiative, starting with Malacalza Investments, – majority shareholder of Banca Carige with a share of 27.8% of the capital – hoping for their support or even for a legal appearance.
The ruling of the EU Court against the ECB decision on Carige
Today, three years after the appeal was filedthe ruling of the EU Court has arrived.
Before deciding on the recapitalization, the majority shareholders of Carige recalled the sentence whose content was reported by Ansa “They wanted to be notified, on the one hand, of the business plan and, on the other, of the Bank’s financial statements for 2018″.
According to the interpretation of the Court, “The rules underlying the decisions do not provide for the dissolution of the administrative or supervisory bodies of banks and the establishment of an extraordinary administration, in the event that the deterioration of the situation of the bank or banking group [sarebbe] particularly significant ‘”.
Whether the ECB and the European Commission would have held that, in the specific case, lthe ECB should apply, in addition to national law, also the law of the European Union: which he would have done in the specific case of Carige by applying the provision of Directive 2059/14, which provides for extraordinary administration in the event of a significant deterioration of the situation of the entity in question.
However, the Court rejects the position of the ECB and the Commission arguing that, when national law transposes a directive – as was the case for art. 70 of the consolidated banking act – it is national law that must be applied.
The ECB he will now have two months and ten days to challenge the sentence, before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The history of Carige is troubled to say the least: the bank of Genoa, not for nothing, has in the past also been defined the other Mps.
The new Carige was officially born at the end of January 2021, after being placed in extraordinary administration at the beginning of 2019, by paying his no to the 400 million capital increase that the European Central Bank had ordered.
Consob had called in the same days an emergency meeting ordering the suspension of the title Carige from Piazza Affari.
The bank was subsequently bailed out by the FITD (Interbank Deposit Protection Fund) and by Cassa Centrale Banca. On 25 July, the time granted to Carige by the ECB for the definition of a plan for its rescue expired. At the end of December 2019, there was talk of the option, the exercise of which would have allowed Cassa Centrale Banca to purchase all the shares of the Fund and to increase the capital of Carige up to 91%.
Nothing would be done about it, and Carige, after the years of reorganization ordered by the ECB, would return to the market in the guise of new pawn of the banking risk made in Italy: the other Italian Mps, but decidedly more attractive. (Dal 2013 al 2021, Carige had been affected by four capital increases, three changes of ownership, 5 managing directors, three commissioners).
As a fund financed by credit institutions, the Fitd could not, in fact, have been a long-term investor in the bank; under the terms of the agreement with which he had saved Carige, the fund would have had to get rid of its stake. The real turning point would come with the Bper’s acquisition of 79.418% of Carige from Fitd and the voluntary intervention scheme.
The end of Carige’s Odyssey came a few days ago, with the European Central Bank, it authorized the merger by incorporation of Banca Carige and Banca del Monte di Lucca into BPER Banca.
Takeover bid on Carige: 96.11% of the capital acquired, this is when the delisting of the Ligurian bank will take place