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The European Commission is investigating the Italian government’s controversial sale of stock in Monte dei Pasi di Siena last year following allegations that large investors were locked out of the bidding process.
UnicRedit, Norwegian Petroleum Fund, BlackRock, was one of the investors interested in buying shares when the Treasury sold its 15% stake last November, but a few people familiar with the issue said that bids had already been closed by Banca Akros, a small local bank that was running the process.
Instead, the stock went to four domestic buyers who are closely linked to the government’s ambitions to build the third pillar of the Italian banking system, challenging two biggest players in the market, Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo.
Rome is reducing its shares in MPS through a series of sales launched in November 2023 in 2017 to meet EU conditions related to bank nationalization. JPMorgan, Jefferies and Mediobanca bought the stock at the stock price, and investors bought the stock.
The committee was following the complaints and examining details of the latest stock sales to see if the process is fair and open market transactions, two people explained the details. This preliminary assessment could lead to the opening of a state aid investigation, but no decisions have been made, people warned.
A European Commission spokesman declined to comment.
Last year, the stock went to parent company Banco BPM, which was run by Banca Akros. This is the lender the Italian government wanted to merge with the Parliamentary, and the asset manager of Anima, whose BPM offered to buy.
The remaining shares were sent to the families of billionaires Del Vecchio and Cartagillon, who hold shares in several Italian financial groups.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Finance at the time, all four investors paid a 5% premium on the shares.
The Italian government initially planned to sell 7% of its MPs, according to a statement that announced the sale. The next morning, he said 15% of the Treasury shares had finally been sold.
A banker who is well versed in sales details said that guidance on order pricing to investors during bidding was not “unusual.”
UnicRedit has fought to buy Banco BPM in the face of government opposition, but has ordered them to buy 10% of their shares. When Banca Akros returned the follow-up call, UnicRedit was told that the book was closed, according to people familiar with the issue.
For the first time in history, Banka Across served as the only book runner on a billion contract. According to some people who have been detailed about the process, Bank of America and City were also heard by the Treasury Department before running the process before choosing a small local bank.
According to those familiar with the details of the investigation, prosecutors in Milanese are also investigating the sale to ensure Italian taxpayers get the best deal possible.
Last month, Italian financial police seized documents from the Bancaacross office in Milan, according to three others. According to several people, UnicRedit CEO Andrea Orcel spoke to prosecutors after the Financial Times reported that the bank had been removed from the stock sale in December.
UnicRedit, the Norwegian Petroleum Fund, and BlackRock declined to comment.
Banka Across said that “selling was transparently carried out in accordance with laws in which hundreds of institutional investors participate through a digital platform.”
Officials from the Italian Ministry of Finance denied the injustice in the book’s construction process. He said he followed “market standards” that were also used internationally in Italy for past stock sales.
“Bookbuilding (processes) are being accelerated everywhere in the world, and all these transactions are being carried out the same way,” he said. “This is a very standard procedure all over the world.”
Italy had several bookrunners for past stock sales, but Treasury officials said Banka Across had committed to the highest price for the sale of MPS shares. “In this case, no one matched the prices Akros offered,” he said.
Shortly after the stock sale, MPS launched a hostile takeover of its larger rival and its longtime advisor Mediobanca, both Cartagiron and Delvecchios, also two biggest investors. Approval of European Central Bank transactions is still pending.
UnicRedit’s Orcel told Italy’s Daily La Republica last week that the group reported alleged irregularities in sales of MPS stock last year to Italian financial regulators.
Additional Reports by Barbara Moens
