By Valentina Za
MILAN (Reuters) -Italian bank UniCredit said on Friday it will appeal in court against the conditions imposed by the government to clear its takeover bid for rival Banco BPM.
UniCredit said in a statement it would file the legal complaint “shortly” with the administrative court of Rome’s Lazio region.
It said it would also support the European Commission’s review of the use Italy has made of its “golden powers” to screen bank acquisitions, which the government utilised to set demands for UniCredit’s bid on national security grounds.
So-called golden powers allow Italy’s government to block or set conditions on foreign and domestic corporate takeovers in strategic sectors including energy, telecoms and banking.
To clear the bid, Italy has asked UniCredit to halt its operations in Russia and requested it keep the level of Banco BPM’s loans in relation to deposits unchanged for a period of five years.
UniCredit, meanwhile, said it was waiving a provision in its offer that allowed it to walk away after Banco BPM completed the acquisition of fund manager Anima Holding at a higher price than anticipated.
BPM had bid for Anima just before UniCredit swooped in, and it managed to secure shareholder approval and see the purchase through despite having become a takeover target itself.
UniCredit retains rights in its bid that would still allow it to drop the offer. It said it was not in a position to decide whether its purchase could be finalised given the government’s conditions.
The bank, led by CEO Andrea Orcel, this week secured a 30-day suspension of its BPM offer from Italy’s markets regulator, which gives it time to engage with the authorities to dispute the demands.
Banco BPM CEO Giuseppe Castagna said in a newspaper interview on Friday that his bank would file a complaint with an administrative court against the suspension.
Under Orcel, who has driven UniCredit’s share price higher in anticipation of M&A deals by returning to shareholders record profits fuelled by higher interest rates, the bank has shrunk its loan book to maximise returns.
By bidding for BPM in November, UniCredit thwarted government plans to promote a tie-up between BPM and state-backed Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Tom Hogue and Joe Bavier)
