Carige should merge before capital increase, chairman says
Paolo Momigliano, chairman of Fondazione Carige that owns 19% of listed Italian bank Carige, said Carige should merge before the proposed capital increase, reported Il Messaggero and most of the Italian press. Carige has to conduct a EUR 500m capital increase to comply with the results of the stress tests published by the ECB. Momigliano said that a merger after the capital increase would only favour the new shareholders and not the current ones. The Fondazione is being advised by Banca Imi, the Italian language report said.
Meanwhile, Il Messaggero said that Cesare Casterlbarco, the Banca Carige chairman, visited Bank of Italy to give an update on the EUR 500m capital increase. The report said that Mediobanca is willing to underwrite up to EUR 650m. Carige could sell Banca Ponti and Creditis and merge some of the controlled companies such as Cassa di Savona, Cassa di Carrara and Monte di Lucca.
Meanwhile, Castelbarco said that among the other players willing to underwrite the capital increase there could be Investindustrial’s Andrea Bonomi and an international fund.
Source Il Messaggero