Banca Carige's Owner Confirms Multiple Offers for Bank; Shares Soar
07 January 2022 - 10:49PM
Dow Jones News
By Cristina Roca
Banca Carige SpA shares trade sharply higher after its owner
confirmed that it has received more than one preliminary,
non-binding offer for its majority stake in the troubled
lender.
At 1104 GMT, shares in Banca Carige traded 12% higher at
EUR0.90.
FITD, Italy's deposit-guarantee fund, said Thursday that it will
examine the offers in depth, and that the assessment will be
completed soon, probably when its management committee meets on
Monday. It didn't name the bidders.
BPER Banca SpA last month made a non-binding offer for Carige.
FITD said the terms of the offer weren't acceptable, but signaled a
willingness to negotiate. A merger between BPER and Carige would
create a larger player in Italy's fragmented banking sector.
According to media reports, Credit Agricole SA has now thrown
its hat in the ring as well. The French bank declined to comment on
the matter.
The offers for Carige are "subject, among other things, to
verification and due diligence activities that contemplate the
granting of exclusive rights," FITD said.
It isn't clear whether the FITD will grant exclusivity to one
bidder as soon as it completes its assessment of the offers, Equita
Sim analysts said in a note.
FITD bailed out Carige in 2019 and holds 80% of its shares. The
expressions of interest in Carige follow the collapse of talks to
reprivatize Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, another struggling
bank that was rescued by the Italian state a few years ago.
Write to Cristina Roca at cristina.roca@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 07, 2022 06:34 ET (11:34 GMT)
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