Unicredit rises over 4% of generals, another move in bank risk after BPM

The Italian banking group Unicredit over 4% of the control of General, The largest insurance company in our country. The increase in the shares in the possession of Unicredit comes in a critical moment for Generali, who is studying a proposal for the merger of one of his companies with the French Natixis, of BPCE.

This perspective would create the largest managed savings company in Europe. Within the company, however, some shareholders, including the holding of the old family and that of the Caltagirone group, are against the operation. This is intertwined with the purchase attempt by Mediobanca by MPS. Meanwhile, Unicredit says he wants to still give precedence to operations Bpm and Commerzbank.

Unicredit has become the scale needle in Generali

The press agency Handle It reports that Unicredit, with the new participations in Generali, could have become the balance of the scale that will decide one of the most important financial operations of recent years in Europe. At the moment, the shareholders’ meeting of the Italian insurance group is divided into two fronts, which have opposite opinions on the offer of Natixis.

On the one hand there is Mediobanca, majority shareholder relating to Generali, who is in favor of the operation. The creation of the first European managed savings company is an attractive perspective. The Italian group that manages about half of Natixis funds, however, will initially give up part of the profits to compensate for the position of French society.

To oppose the operation are instead Dolphin, the holding of the old family, who controls Luxottica, and the Caltagirone group, which refers to the entrepreneur Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone. He has interests in the real estate and finance sector, but also in publishing (he is the publisher of the newspapers Il Messaggero and Il Mattino). The two groups also have a participation, albeit minority, in Mediobanca, as well as in Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

The intertwining of the banking risk

In the issue of the Fusion Generali Natixis, what is often called Italian “bank risiko” is often exemplified. We refer to the complex intertwining of participations, mergers and other operations involving many Italian banks. Delfin and Caltagirone have a participation in many of the Italian companies involved:

  • MPS;
  • Mediobanca;
  • General.

Despite this, Mediobanca’s board is in favor of merger but the two families are opposed. Things could change if Mps’s Oops against Mediobanca were to be successful. In that case Delfin and Caltagirone could obtain a much more important position in the new bank that would be created and who would be a majority shareholder relating to Generali.

In the meantime, Unicredit is itself occupied in some important financial transactions. On an Italian level he is trying to acquire BPM, an important credit institution. However, the operation is also opposed by the Italian government. The group is also finding similar difficulties in Germany, with the merger with Commerzbank which could create one of the most important groups at European level. Unicredit has however declared that, despite the recent changes in his participations in Generali, these two operations remain the main objective of the group.