MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s Banca Mediolanum has not yet made a decision on Banca Monte dei Paschi’s bid for Mediobanca, its Chief Executive Massimo Doris said on Thursday, after the asset manager posted its best-ever net profit.
State-backed MPS last month shocked Italy’s financial world by launching a hostile all-share bid for Mediobanca, seven-and-a-half years after a state bailout that drew a line under a decade-long crisis.
Banca Mediolanum is one of the main shareholders in Mediobanca with a 3.5% stake.
Mediobanca rejected the takeover offer, saying it would be detrimental to its shareholders because it lacked any strategic and financial rationale.
“Not all the details have been disclosed, so the topic has not been discussed yet. Of course I personally have an idea about the transaction,” Doris told a post result press briefing, without elaborating.
Doris said that he so far had no contact with MPS CEO Luigi Lovaglio or the Italian government which backed the deal, and that he was taken by surprise on the day the bid was announced.
Banca Mediolanum has no plans to buy a rival asset manager or to merge with Mediobanca or Banca Generali or FinecoBank, he added.
The bank posted a 36% rise in annual net profit to a record 1.12 billion euros ($1.16 billion) for 2024 and proposed a dividend of 1 euro per share.
Net interest income rose 8% to 811.1 million euros, in line with guidance issued in November, but the bank said it expects NII to fall 5% this year.
Banca Mediolanum said in a statement it expected a dividend of more than 0.75 euros per share in 2025 and “very strong” net inflows in line with the 10.44 billion euros in 2024.
($1 = 0.9651 euros)
(Reporting by Michela Stasio; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Keith Weir)
