BANCA INTESA/COMIT
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
Banca Intesa Comit acquisition: the Competition Authority has instituted in investigation into several financial markets affected by the Banca Intesa and Comit acquisition.
The Competition Authority has begun an investigation to the acquisition by Banca Intesa of control of Comit, with a public swap offer of 70% of Comit’s ordinary and savings shares.
The purpose of the investigation is to see whether this takeover creates or strengthens a dominant position on a number of Italian financial markets in a manner likely to substantially impede competition.
For the operation concerns two major banking groups, both of which are particularly active on the securities management, investment fund and factoring markets. The Authority intends to see whether consumer choice regarding these services may be adversely affected by this operation, above all in Calabria and Lombardy and in certain areas of Piedmont, Latium, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria, where the acquisition is likely to create an economic entity with substantial market strength.
The investigation will be completed by the end of November.
Rome, 14 October 1999