Content area
Full Text
BNP Paribas has ended speculation over the future ownership of Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) by agreeing to purchase nearly 50 percent of the Italian bank's shares from 13 shareholders for E4.3 billion. The move follows the Bank of Italy's recent rejection of a bid by Italian insurer Unipol and its allies, which valued BNL at E8 billion in total. Unipol is one of the 13 shareholders to have already agreed the sale of its shares in BNL.
The move was met with surprise from industry analysts, which had expected BBVA, the owner of a 15 percent stake in BNL, to launch a second offer for BNL (see EB 246). BBVA pulled out of the bidding for BNL in 2005 when its share offer for the Italian bank was bettered by Unipol's cash offer.
"What has clearly happened is that BNP came through under the carpet and snapped up this highly appealing Italian bank," said Millan Gudka, a banking analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. "BBVA is quite a conservative bank and not willing to overpay. Unipol...