Unipol Banca suitor BPER appoints Citi to work on possible bid|
BPER Banca [BIT:BPE] has appointed Citi to examine a possible bid on Unipol Banca, the banking subsidiary of Italian financial services group Unipol [BIT:UNI], the Italian-language daily Milano Finanza reported. The unsourced report said that Unipol is also moving to appoint by the end of the month a financial advisor on the operation, which could be announced in the second half of January and the beginning of February as part of BPER's new financial plan.
The report said that the aim would be to acquire and then incorporate Unipol Banca within BPER.
The article claimed that BPER is likely to pay for Unipol Banca in cash rather than shares because Unipol has already recently increased its stake in BPER and is not looking to boost its holding in the near future.
The item added that the BPER board will examine the dossier on 20 December.
The report noted that Unipol Banca is an attractive target to BPER because its books have been cleared of stressed loans.
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