The spotlights light up on the lightning placement of 15% of MPS took place last November, under the direction of Banca Akros. In just nine minutes the titles were placed in the hands of four investors: the Caltagirone group, Delfin, Banco Bpm and Soul. Today that operation is at the center of an investigation by the Guardia di Finanza, which carried out searches and kidnappings in the Akros Banca premises. The bank of the Banco BPM group defends itself by claiming the full correctness of its work after the Guardia di Finanza has gone to its offices to acquire the documentation.
The first peculiarity, already highlighted by the Financial Times, It is the extreme concentration of demand and the homogeneity of the price. . Secondly, some of the protagonists play a role as protagonists in the Edge of Mediobanca and Generali, suggesting the possibility of strategic coordination. Third element: some large institutional investment houses would not have been even contacted to participate in the placement, an exclusion that feeds the shadow of an already “closed” operation before even leaving. Finally, none of the realities involved has, on paper, industrial or operational synergies with MPS. In short, a move that seems to move more on the level of corporate control than that of industrial interest.
All this happens while the banking Risiko thickens and moves towards a new epicenter: Mediobanca. On Monday there will be a crucial assembly for the future of the institute led by Alberto Nagel, where the public exchange offer (OPS) on Banca Generali will be put to the votes. A passage that could redesign the perimeter of Italian high finance. And precisely in view of that appointment, heavy endorsement arrive
Among these, Canada Pension Plan stands out, the Canadian social security institution that manages a heritage of over 700 billioni of dollars. With one million mediobanca shares in portfolio (equal to 0.12% of the capital), the fund has announced that it will vote in favor of OS. A symbolically strong vote, which is added to the favorable front already announced by a long list of American giants: New York City Comptoller, Calstrs, Calpers, Florida State Board of Administration, as well as as a asset manager attentive to governance such as Calvert and Praxis. But the maximum weight comes from northern Europe. Norges Fund – the Norwegian sovereign fund, the largest in the world with 1,900 billion dollars in management – has made its own vote offered to the OPS, bringing a mediabanca shares of 1.45% of the capital to the dowry. An unequivocal signal. Norges is the first institutional investor in Europe, present in almost all listed companies on the continent. His support is never accidental.
