MILAN, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Credit score Agricole (CAGR.PA)
has no plans to extend its stake in Banco BPM <BAMI.MI> above 10%, the pinnacle of the Italian arm of the French financial institution mentioned on Tuesday.
Credit score Agricole final 12 months turned the largest single shareholder in Banco BPM, Italy’s third-largest financial institution, after shopping for a 9.2% stake, with view to increasing their strategic industrial partnerships.
Whereas Credit score Agricole has at all times denied planning to carry its stake above the edge of 10%, the transfer fueled hypothesis it might finally purpose for a full takeover.
“We have now not expressed an intention to go above 10%, nor have we ever sought authorisations (from regulators) on this sense,” Credit score Agricole Italy CEO Giampiero Maioli mentioned on the sidelines of an occasion in Milan.
Analysts pointed to the gradual stakebuilding from 2018 that preceded the French financial institution’s $1 billion takeover of regional Italian lender Credito Valtellinese (CreVal) in 2021.
When requested if funding in Banco BPM might resemble the one in CreVal, Maioli mentioned: “no two tales are ever the identical”.
Credit score Agricole final month struck a long-term bancassurance partnership in non-life merchandise with Banco BPM, strengthening ties with the Italian financial institution.
Maoili mentioned the French group had non plans to file its personal slate of nominees for the renewal of the Banco BPM’s board anticipated in April.
Reporting by Andrea Mandalà, enhancing by Gianluca Semeraro and Keith Weir
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