UNICREDITO ITALIANO/CAPITALIA
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
UNICREDIT-CAPITALIA: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO POSSIBLE RISKS TO COMPETITION AND INTO THE ROLE OF MEDIOBANCA/GENERALI
The Italian Competition Authority, at its meeting on 17 July 2007, decided to open an investigation into the merger of UniCredito Italiano SpA and Capitalia SpA.
The merger of the Unicredit group and the Capitalia group will create one of the largest banking groups in Italy and in the euro area with a market capitalization of almost 100 billion euros and a retail network in Italy of over 5,000 branches and more than 3,000 financial advisers.
The merger, given the particular structure of the groups involved, will lead to various effects the Authority deemed worthy of further study. In particular there will be a considerable expansion of the retail network, an increase in market strength in activities upstream of production/management in various markets and an upgrading of the range and type of services offered.
More specifically, the Authority’s decision to begin an investigation stems from the need to ascertain whether a dominant position may be created which would eliminate or substantially and permanently reduce competition in the various sectors of traditional banking, in portfolio management, in investment banking and in insurance as well as in other related but not strictly banking areas.
The Authority perceives the risk of excessive market strength in deposit-taking and lending in various Italian provinces, many of which are in Sicily and Latium. Other areas to be analysed will be life insurance and investment banking where both parties are active and where competitive pressures could slacken as a result of the links inherent in the new entity.
The Authority will likewise analyse the post-merger shareholding and personal links with other leading operators in the relevant markets which, as things stand, can hardly be called effective competitors, either currently or potentially.
This refers to the Generali group and the Mediobanca group which – in the light of the new positions held by the parties in terms of both shareholdings and shareholder pacts as well as in governance, considering the network of relationships – will be operating in a context that risks being much less competitive with the new bank in life insurance and in investment banking.
This proceeding is to be completed by 7 October 2007.
Rome, 17 July 2007