MILAN (Reuters) – UniCredit on Tuesday said it was withdrawing its 14.6 billion euro ($17 billion) all-share bid for Banco BPM.
Italy’s second-biggest bank said in a statement government-set terms for the bid, which it has been fighting in court scoring a partial victory earlier this month, had derailed the bid.
“The normal offer process has been impacted by the Golden Power provision,” the bank said, referring to special powers Rome has to set conditions, or block, corporate deals on grounds of public order or national security.
UniCredit said a 30-day suspension of the bid which market watchdog Consob decided earlier on Tuesday was not sufficient to get to a point where all uncertainty around the scope of the government’s powers would be cleared.
($1 = 0.8514 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Alvise Armellini)
