ANTITRUST AUTHORIZES UNIPOL-BNL MERGER
PRESS RELEASE
ANTITRUST AUTHORIZES UNIPOL-BNL MERGER
The Italian Competition Authority, at its meeting on 6 September 2005, gave the green light for Unipol’s takeover of BNL.
The Authority judged that this operation would not represent the strengthening of a dominant market position.
The Authority’s evaluation related to the investment management markets (mutual investment funds and individual wealth management) and branches I, III and V of the life insurance market.
As regards the investment management markets in particular, the Authority decided that such concentration will not significantly modify the existing structural status.
As for the insurance markets, in the Authority’s view this merger will merely consolidate at a Group level an already existing production and distribution arrangement using BNL Vita as the vehicle (this is a company which is jointly controlled by BNL and the Unipol Group, whose products are sold through BNL branches).
This authorization follows the Authority’s request on 18 August last that Unipol provide further information about its relationship with Monte dei Paschi di Siena (a shareholder in Finsoe, the company which controls Unipol and which has a joint management agreement with Holmo, the major shareholder in Finsoe). In the light of the documentation received, it was felt that in evaluating the Unipol-BNL merger it was not necessary to take MPS’s market position into consideration.
The Authority, at today’s meeting, also approved the opinion to be forwarded to the Bank of Italy as to the merger’s effects on the banking industry. In the Antitrust Authority’s view, the limited consequences of the operation on competition are not such as to substantially affect the retail banking market.
Rome, 6 September 2005