“I can tell you, just like Mario Draghi, 'whatever it takes'”. Following the presentation of the first half-year accounts, closed with 5,6 billion in profits, Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina, confirms his total commitment to MPS and, in an interview with Cnbc Europe quotes the famous phrase of the former governor of the ECB and former prime minister in order to make clear to everyone how serious his intentions are.
“It is a goal we want to achieve and we will do our best to finalize the operation – underlined the top manager – It is essential to accelerate the business plan, thus anticipating its realization by three years". According to the top manager "thanks to this acquisition we will reach 2.000 billion euros of wealth management"by 2029" and we will be able to further accelerate the synergies already present within our group.
The acquisition, Messina added, could "create a lot of value for our shareholders but also for the shareholders of MPS, because the valuation we are offering allows them today to obtain a price/earnings ratio comparable to that of JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs." Today, he added, "we have a price-earnings ratio of 11, like Unicredit, Santander, BBVA, all the best in the category. Montepaschi di Siena, thanks to our acquisition, is now at 15, a value comparable to that of the great American giant."
Regarding the current disputes within the Siena board of directors, the CEO finally reiterated: "We can also guarantee something that MPS currently lacks: serenity and transparency in the governance process."
Intesa, Messina opens up to Unicredit: "We can collaborate in various areas."
During his interview, the number one of Ca'de Sass makes the congratulations to Unicredit for its strategy, including the Commerzbank deal. Piazza Gae Aulenti, he said, "made an excellent choice in designing a pan-European commercial banking business model. We have a completely different business, focused on wealth management and protection, but we are two giants in terms of market capitalization in Italy. We are two pillars of the Italian Stock Exchange and I would like to add that we are friends and that We can collaborate in different fields in the future too“, said Messina. And the reference could be to a possible cohabitation of the first two Italian banks in the shareholding of the General, of which Intesa currently holds 3,1% and Unicredit 9,9%.
Intesa opens to Eurobonds and the European Ministry of Economy
In his interview, the CEO also spoke about Europe and the difficulties in consolidation operations: “Before thinking about cross-border operations, we need to take a different path in Europe,” he said, specifying that “theCross-border operations are the weak point of the European landscape, because UniCredit's deal for Commerzbank "is also a local operation," as it aims to merge HVB and Commerz. The transaction is presented as cross-border, "of a governmental, sovereign nature, aimed at ensuring that no other strong competitor enters the country."
“In my opinion, the first step is to try to establish a different governance,” Messina emphasized. “So, first of all, a European Ministry of Economy is needed. Need start with a Eurobond, then we can talk about cross-border consolidation." Otherwise, he pointed out, "they're just empty words."
Unipol: Shareholders approve €2,5 billion capital increase for MPS
Meanwhile, this morning the Unipol shareholders' meeting gave the green light for a capital increase of up to 2,5 billion of euros functional to the acquisition of part of the MPS network from Intesa Sanpaolo in the event that Ca' de Sass's takeover bid for the Siena-based institution were to go through.
As a result of the resolution, a statement from Unipol reads, the group's board of directors, chaired by Carlo Cimbri, will have the power, to be exercised by December 31, 2027, to increase the share capital in one or more tranches and against payment, for a maximum amount of €2,5 billion. The effectiveness of the resolution, a statement from Unipol reads, is subject to:approval by IVASS.
