It’s official: the share placement of Poste Italiane has suffered a setback or in the words of the company one “temporary interruption”. The stop to the Public Offering of 14% of the capital by the MEF had been rumored since yesterday, but the official announcement arrived this morning. A confirmation that the market welcomed, given that the stock skyrocketed on the stock market.
The placement it should have left next Monday 21 October (here are all the details of the placement), but according to the stock exchange “tam-tam” it will be scheduled after November 6, the date on which Poste Italiane’s third quarter results will be released. The first available date could be the following Monday 11 November.
Poste’s “concise” note
“Poste Italiane announces that it has started, together with the MEF, the procedure at Consob for the approval of the prospectus relating to the offer of shares by the MEF itself, following the approval of the Prime Ministerial Decree of 17 September,” informs a summary note from the state-owned company, adding “this procedure was temporarily discontinued pending decisions and evaluations in progress regarding methods and times of the offer“.
The surge in the stock on the stock market
What is certain is that the market welcomed the news. Poste Italiane’s shares immediately stood out within the FTSE MIB basket, pushing towards historical high of 13.46 eurosup 3.6% compared to the day before. In the early afternoon, the stock confirmed itself as the best among the Blue-Chips and boasts increasing trade and a value of 57.4 million.
The reasons for the postponement of the OPV
The postponement of the Offer, according to market sources, would have been requested by the 11 investment banks that make up the placement consortium, in view of therelease of the nine months’ numbers on November 6th next. Positive accounts, in fact, could allow the placers to obtain a higher valuation and this consideration would have convinced the MEF to postpone the operation.
For someone else, the postponement would have a more political significance and it would be linked to the words of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who, answering a question about the placement of the Post Office and a possible interest of BlackRock to increase his stake in the company that manages the postal service, he would have put i stakes to a sale reserved for institutional investors, declaring that the placement is aimed at retail savers and that Poste must remain in Italian hands.
In fact, the OPV should reserve retail investors have a “large space”with a fee included between 25% and 35% of the placementwhile another 3% would be the prerogative of employees. Precisely in view of a placement aimed mostly at small savers, there is talk of a reduction of the minimum package to 250 shares, so as not to make the minimum lot excessively onerous at the current prices of the security for small savers.
