The European Commission investigates the controversial sale of the 15-percent share in the Monte Dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) that the Italian government spent in November last year.
The occasion is the claims that some of the largest institutional investors, including UniCredit, the Norwegian oil fund and Blackrock, were excluded from the competition process.
According to the Financial Times, investors were told that the competition was already concluded, although they showed a significant interest in the purchase. The process was led by a small domestic bank Banca Akros, which first led this great job on its own. The shares were sold to four domestic customers, including Banco BPM – the home company BANCA ACROS and the Potential Partner to MPS – as well as the property management and the families of DEL VECCHIO and CALTAGIRONE, related to several large Italian financial institutions.
All customers paid a premium of 5% in relation to the market price, and the Italian government stated that she originally planned to sell only 7% of the share, but the next day she confirmed that all 15% was sold.
The European Commission currently conducts a preliminary assessment to determine whether the sale is carried out in an honest and transparent manner. If irregularities are identified, the investigation could grow into the case of state support, the FINANCE BA transfer.
Previous procedures led the renowned banks
The treatment causes additional concerns because in previous transactions, which were also part of the EU liability in the Mopletration 2017, the proceedings were conducted by renowned international investment banks such as JPMorgan, Jefferie and Mediobance.
From UniCredit, the Norwegian Petroleum Fund and Blackrock rejected commented. UniCredit is, according to the available information, submitted an offer to purchase a 10% share, but soon informed that the order book is closed. Meanwhile, Milan prosecutors opened his own investigation to protect the interests of taxpayers, and the financial police seized documentation from the Banca Akros office.
Banca Acros said the sales procedure was completely transparent and lawful, highlighting that hundreds of institutional investors participated through a digitized platform. Officials of the Ministry of Finance claim that the whole process was in line with international market standards, and the achoss offer was assessed as the highest.
Shortly after sales, the MoES launched the enemy download of the MEDIBANCE – the institution in which it was just del Vecchio and Caltagirone among the largest shareholders – further deepening suspicions in the motivation and goal of the entire process.
