CONDITIONAL GO-AHEAD FOR PURCHASE OF ANTONVENETA BY MPS
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
ANTITRUST AUTHORITY GIVES CONDITIONAL GO-AHEAD FOR MPS'S ACQUISITION OF ANTONVENETA
The Group must sell between 110 and 125 branches in 14 Italian Provinces and dissolve its links in the insurance business with Unipol and Allianz. Measures for preventing plurality of offices between competing banks.
The Antitrust Authority has given conditional authorization for the acquisition of Antonveneta by MPS. At its meeting on 7 May 2008, the Italian Competition Authority decided to authorize the takeover while rendering binding the parties' commitments aimed at eliminating the competition issues which emerged during the investigation.
The merger of these two banks will create the third-largest banking group in Italy, with a total network of about 3000 branches and over 6 million customers.
There follows a description of the measures to which the authorization is subject.
SALE OF BRANCHES
Banca Monte Paschi di Siena must sell between 110 and 125 branches in 14 Italian Provinces (in all Provinces in the Region of Tuscany, in Biella, Mantua, Vercelli and Perugia); sales will be particularly concentrated in the Provinces of Tuscany where the Authority discerned the greatest problems of competition, given BMPS's strong territorial roots in the area and the potential effect of the takeover on the network. The sales, using transparent non-discriminatory procedures, must be made to one or more independent third parties that are not shareholders.
DISSOLUTION OF LINKS IN THE INSURANCE SECTOR
Relationship with Unipol
Banca Monte Paschi di Siena must dissolve and not renew the joint venture with the Unipol group which exists by way of Quadrifoglio Vita and must sell its entire shareholding in Finsoe and dissolve the relevant shareholder pact.
Relationship with Allianz
Banca Monte Paschi di Siena must not renew the banking-insurance agreement, which expires by 31 July 2009, between Banca Antonveneta and the Allianz group; this operates by way of the Antoniana Veneta Popolare Vita and Antoniana Veneto Popolare Assicurazioni joint ventures.
The measures foreseen in the insurance business resolve the competition issues that would have emerged in the life insurance branch (production and sales), in terms of relationships among competing parties.
MEASURES REGARDING CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Banca Monte Paschi di Siena must take steps to ensure that, from the next round of appointments, no BMPS Board members are at the same time members of the Board of Directors, the management committee or the supervisory committee of competing banks that are not part of the BMPS group, where such companies have a banking licence issued by the Italian oversight authority and are involved in deposit-taking in Italy.
In view of the characteristics of the merger operation and the Authority's recent precedents, this measure would seem to be appropriate for preventing the takeover from creating or reinforcing already important links among operators in this industry which could significantly compromise the competitive dynamics of the various markets involved.
Rome, 7 May 2008