For the first time since selling its asset management arm to French fund management giant Amundi seven years ago, Unicredit will now have a substantial base from which to rebuild an in-house asset management business.
UniCredit has launched a €10 billion voluntary public exchange offer for all shares of Banco BPM. If carried out, the acquisition will make UniCredit the third largest European bank by market cap.
But the real prize could be in asset management. Banco BPM is in the process of buying out asset management firm Anima Holding (€200 billion AUM), seeking to increase its 22% ownership to at least 67% and take the firm private. UniCredit’s notice of its bid for the bank stated that it “takes note” of this offer.
The subsequent acquisition of Anima could put UniCredit in conflict with Amundi (approximately €2.2 trillion AUM), which bought its asset management arm, Pioneer Investments, in 2017. The contract between the two, a shared partnership for the distribution of asset management products across Italy, Germany and Austria, runs until 2027. Amundi was not mentioned in the bid notice.
The bank has offered a consideration of 175 newly-issued ordinary UniCredit shares for each 1,000 Banco BPM shares tendered. In total, BPM’s share capital is equal to 1,515,182,126 issuer’s shares. UniCredit has determined the BPM reference price to be €6.657 per share, which includes a 0.5% premium.
Banco BPM will be incorporated into UniCredit regardless of whether its shares can be immediately delisted from Euronext Milan, the latter said, although this would be preferable. Prioritising speed will allow the bank to more rapidly achieve the transaction’s industrial and strategic goals, it explained.
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