ROME (Reuters) -Italy acted properly in placing a 15% stake in state-backed bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena last November, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said, after prosecutors in Milan started
Italy's Economy Minister Defends November Stake Sale in Monte Paschi
ROME (Reuters) -Italy acted properly in placing a 15% stake in state-backed bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena last November, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said, after prosecutors in Milan started an investigation into the transaction.
Giorgetti said he had reiterated "the absolute correctness of the work of the men and women who worked on the placement at the ministry" to a parliamentary committee on security he was addressing when asked about the probe.
Italy's economy ministry sold the stake via an accelerated bookbuilding (ABB) procedure handled by Banca Akros, the investment banking unit of Banco BPM.
Banca Akros said multiple times it had acted "properly and transparently" in handling the sale, after the Financial Times reported that UniCredit had been unable to buy a 10% stake in MPS during the placement.
The Treasury cut its stake in MPS to 11.7% from an original 64% through three share placements in around a year. The November sale was aimed at building a stable core of domestic shareholders in MPS, which Italy rescued in 2017 and had been returning to private hands.
Banco BPM took a 5% stake in the Tuscan bank, while fund manager Anima Holding took 3% and construction tycoon Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and the holding company of the late Ray-Ban owner Leonardo Del Vecchio took 3.5% each.
"The sale was carried out under the same terms as the ones previously made," Giorgetti told reporters.
The minister also said the European Commission had asked Italy for details of the placement. "We are absolutely relaxed," he added.
The stake placement kicked off a long expected wave of M&A activity in Italy's banking sector that has caused upheaval.
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Jan Harvey)
