The action of the Italian bank climbed 10.24% to 3.01 euros at the close, following gaining up to 15% in session, in a market up 2.13%.
The title of the Italian bank Banco BPM, the third in the country, soared on Friday on the Milan Stock Exchange by more than 10%, boosted by the announcement of the entry into its capital of Crédit Agricole.
The action rose 10.24% to 3.01 euros at the close, following gaining up to 15% in session, in a market up 2.13%.
Crédit Agricole announced on Thursday evening that it had acquired a 9.18% stake in Banco BPM, thus becoming its largest shareholder.
This stake “strengthens the solid relations maintained with Banco BPM, embodied by the long-standing strategic partnership in consumer credit within the Agos joint venture”, explained the French bank in a press release.
Given a market capitalization of 4.1 billion euros on Thursday at the close for the Italian group, the operation might be valued at nearly 380 million euros.
In October 2020, rumors of a merger between the two groups appeared in the Italian press.
Then, on February 11, its title took off on the Milan square following speculation on a possible takeover proposal by its competitor UniCredit, which ultimately did not follow up, in an uncertain stock market context shaken by the war in Ukraine.
Banco BPM, created in 2017 from the merger between Banco Populare and Banca popolare di Milano, is the third Italian banking group in terms of assets, behind Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit.
The bank has approximately 4 million customers, 1,400 branches and 22,000 employees.
“The quality and importance of the investor, as well as the appreciation he expressed for our bank” represent “a clear recognition of the value and potential of Banco BPM”, reacted the Italian bank Thursday following the Crédit Agricole announcement.
The French bank is already present in Italy and in April 2021 bought the regional bank Credito Valtellinese (Creval) for some 785 million euros.
The entry into the capital of Banco BPM “recalls the path followed by Crédit Agricole with Creval: in 2018, it bought a 5% stake in Creval, then increased to 9.8%, in order to strengthen their industrial partnership, and in 2021 Crédit Agricole has launched an offer for Creval”, commented analysts from Intesa Sanpaolo.
A possible “integration of Banco BPM into Crédit Agricole Italia would make industrial sense because it would strengthen their competitive positioning and generate synergies”, they estimated.