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Despite Italian bank stocks being badly out of favour, Banco Popolare has achieved more than 99% subscription for its EUR 996m rights issue, leaving only a tiny rump to be placed in the coming days.
The subscription period closed today and a formal announcement will be made this evening.
The rules for Italian rights issues mean there cannot be oversubscription, so the tiny rump of unsubscribed rights will be sold through the Mercato Telematico Azionario.
Because a formal notice has to be issued, the earliest that could happen is Friday morning. The leads may do that even if markets are difficult then, because it is such a small quantity and such sales are usually completed in minutes.
Banco Popolare's rights issue had been widely expected to succeed, with one banker calling it a "done deal" even before it formally opened.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Mediobanca, the global coordinators and underwriters, were so confident it would go well that they persuaded Banco Popolare not to have a wider syndicate of underwriters, though lots of banks offered to join the group.
Veneto struggling
This is in stark contrast with the capital increases of EUR 1.5bn for Banca Popolare di Vicenza and EUR 1bn for Veneto Banca, both of which were combined with demutualisations and attempts to float in Milan.
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