(Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni moved forward with her plan to use the privatization of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA to promote domestic banking consolidation as the latest share sale saw several national firms buy major stakes.
The 15% stake sold by Rome in Paschi went to Banco BPM SpA, which got 5%, and Anima Holding SpA with 3%, according to statements from the firms. Caltagirone Group bought 3.5% and so did the family of the late EssilorLuxottica SpA founder Leonardo Del Vecchio, according to people familiar with the matter.
It’s the latest sign that the Italian government is making progress on its strategy to push for consolidation in the country’s financial industry, partly through selling Paschi. It seeks to create a third big lender next to the country’s two dominant banks, UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA.
Paschi’s share price surged as much as 10.95% in early Milan trading, the biggest increase since early August. Banco BPM’s stock rose as much as 3.9%.
“We have completed an important action with the implementation of an Italian banking and financial operation,” Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said in a statement Wednesday.
The sale of the Paschi stake netted Italy about €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion). It marks the most recent step for Italy in a long-running restructuring process that started with a nationalization in 2017.
The transaction brings the total proceeds for Italy from Paschi stake sales to about €2.7 billion after it made €920 million ($973 million) from divesting a 25% package a year ago and another €650 million from selling a 12.5% holding in March.
It’s also another sign that a new wave of consolidation may have started for the country’s financial industry. Earlier this month, Banco BPM made a €1.6 billion all-cash takeover offer for Anima, where it already owns about 22%.
“We would not completely rule out a takeover of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena by Banco BPM in a year’s time,” JPMorgan analyst Delphine Lee said in a note to clients.
Meanwhile, Milan-based UniCredit SpA has acquired a stake in Frankfurt-based Commerzbank AG, partly by buying a stake of 4.5% from the German government in a move that has been criticized by Berlin.
Representatives for the Caltagirone Group and Del Vecchio’s family declined to comment. Their purchases were first reported by the news agency Ansa.
Banco BPM doesn’t plan to ask permission to boost its stake to over 10%, it said in its statement.
“The acquisition of a stake in MPS by Banco BPM is part of the broader context of the voluntary public tender offer on the entire share capital of Anima Holding SpA,” it said.
“We already demonstrated our support” for Paschi by participating in a share capital increase in 2022, Anima Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Melzi d’Eril said in a statement. The investment now will seek to “broaden the horizon of our productive collaboration,” he said.
(Updates with Anima statement in last paragraph.)
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