MILAN (Reuters) -S&P Global Ratings said it had placed Mediobanca’s ‘BBB+’ long-term credit rating on CreditWatch negative after Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) secured 62% of the merchant bank in a takeover bid.
“We expect to resolve the CreditWatch placement in the coming months, upon obtaining sufficient information of MPS’s integration and consolidation plans for Mediobanca and an update on its business and financial strategy,” the credit rating agency said in a note.
S&P said the tie-up could strengthen the resulting group’s credit profile in the long term, but it saw a risk it could weaken it instead in the short to medium term compared to Mediobanca’s stand-alone credit quality.
(Reporting by Valentina Za)
