Giorgetti: "Mef neutral on banking risk. Exiting MPS when the price is better"

The Mef it is “neutral” with respect toGuide presented by Intesa Sanpaolo to acquire control of Monte dei Paschi and in general on the ongoing consolidations in the Italian banking world. The Treasury will choose the “most appropriate” market window to sell its residual shares of the Sienese credit institution – 4.86% – to “maximize the collection”.

L’Accelerated Book Building it might be the best tool to do this. It is not excluded that the government could “evaluate prescriptions to be made” if the data analysis is carried out Golden Power made it necessary, as happened last year with the offer – then withdrawn – of Unicredit for Banco Bpm.

The Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgettiin over two hours of hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, establishes the key points of the government’s action with respect to the sector, characterized for two years by a risk of offers to create larger banking hubs.

Consob and banking system appointment

The owner of the Mef also admits that the failure to appoint the leader of the Consobwhich expired three months ago, is “an anomaly”. Then he recalls that the power to make proposals “does not belong to the ministry, otherwise I would proceed to force their hand”. Giorgetti hopes “that a president will be chosen in the shortest possible time”. The undersecretary of the Mef was in the running for the role Federico Freniwhich last month took a step back given some vetoes within the majority to a political figure for the leadership of the supervisory body for listed companies.

System robustness

“In recent years, a complex path has been undertaken to reduce vulnerability.” Now “the banking system is overall solid, supported by high levels of liquidity”. The recognition of “an independent evaluator, and never tender us, as theFMI it is proof of this”, underlines Giorgetti. Then he claims the path of saving and valorising the institute by the State: “Mps it was a Cinderella, no one wanted it, then little by little it started to become interesting”. As for the ongoing offers, Giorgetti clarifies: “The MEF will take a position of neutrality with respect to the ongoing consolidation process, without having to take a position on the extraordinary operations announced or on any alternative operations”.

Transfer times and methods

As for the timing, for the sale of the shares of Mps still in the hands of the Mef, “the most appropriate market window will have to be evaluated to maximize the proceeds”. The share has a theoretical value of approximately 1.6 billion euros. While on the transfer method, the owner of the Mef underlines that “the financial consultants who assist the Department of Economy confirm that theAbb remains one of the best solutions in terms of transparency.”

Use of golden power

Giorgetti focuses at length on the topic of transparency of operations and monitoring by the government. “It’s not like the government uses the golden power so haphazardly: it is a very delicate instrument, there must be public interest. I believe that the TAR ruling has given an indication of what is correct to do in the future”, he argues with respect to last year’s offer from Unicredit on Bpm.

Possible future interventions

Today, he continues “in the abstract, this same criterion could be used for anyone, even for Banca Intesa. It will be the subject of an investigation.” As for the matter of the takeover bid on MPS, he reiterates: “We are neutral. The Golden Power will evaluate and in the abstract can evaluate whether there may be any prescriptions to be made”.

International scenario and Credit Agricole

Rumors of a possible increase in the share are becoming more insistent Credit Agricole at 22.9%, the French institute has the ECB’s approval to rise to 29.9%. When asked about this, Giorgetti replies: “I’m making a joke, take it for what it is. It’s like the World Cup: if he were to participate, if there’s Italy-Germany I’ll support Italy. If there’s Italy-France I’ll support Italy, okay? After that the rules are the rules, but this is a discussion that I think applies to everyone.”