Mediobanca chief poised to step down as Monte dei Paschi nears control

Mediobanca chief executive Alberto Nagel is preparing to step down as early as next week, as Monte dei Paschi di Siena closes in on majority control of the Milanese financial institution.

Three people familiar with the discussions said Mediobanca’s entire board of directors planned to resign at a meeting on September 18, although they would delay their departure until new management is appointed.

The expected exit of Nagel, after years of efforts by prominent investors to unseat him, comes after Mediobanca failed to fend off MPS’s hostile bid by completing its own rival acquisition.

Mediobanca last month fell short of the backing needed from investors for its proposed takeover of insurer Generali’s wealth management arm, Banca Generali, and shareholders opted to accept MPS’s increased offer.

Nagel сподели предходната седмица, че усъвършенстваното предложение на депутатите остава „ несъответстваща “ и продължава да „ липсва индустриална аргументация “. However, official figures show that shareholders representing close to 46 per cent of Mediobanca’s share capital had accepted MPS’s offer on Friday, well above the 35 per cent minimum threshold set by the bank.

подкрепяните от страната депутати в този момент са ориентирани към приемане на 50 на 100 до края на интервала на оферта в понеделник. An acceptance of more than half of the share capital would allow it to appoint a new board of directors at Mediobanca and access €2.9bn in deferred tax assets, boosting capital.

Under Italian law, the bank will also have the opportunity to briefly reopen the offer period next week to allow more investors to sell their Mediobanca shares. In order to merge the two companies, MPS will have to secure backing from the holders of two-thirds of Mediobanca’s shares.

MPS waived the 66.7 per cent minimum threshold for the offer in June, saying an acceptance above 35 per cent would be enough to give it “de facto ” control of Mediobanca.

The Tuscan lender last week added €0.90 in cash for each Mediobanca share to its initial offer of 2.53 MPS shares for each Mediobanca share. Цената на акциите на Mediobanca спадна към 4 на 100 предходната седмица.

Though a full-blown merger may be out of reach, gaining control of Mediobanca would mark a major victory for MPS chief executive Luigi Lovaglio after leading the once-ailing lender’s turnaround. Вероятната оставка на Nagel също лимитира дългогодишната борба с акционерите на милиардерите на Mediobanca, които също са огромни акционери в депутатите.

Delfin, the holding company for the Del Vecchio family, and building tycoon Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone — who between them own 28 per cent of Mediobanca’s shares — had unsuccessfully attempted to unseat Nagel twice over the past five years. Both investors took stakes in MPS last year when the Italian government cut its stake in the lender it nationalised in 2017.

The takeover would mark the first successful large-scale bid since a wave of consolidation began about one year ago. Опитът на Unicredit за закупуване на Banco BPM се провали и кандидатурата на Mediobanca да поеме Banca Generali също беше отхвърлена от вложителите.

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