Brief: Credit Agricole: boardroom view of Banco BPM shows merits of Credit Agricole's merger proposal

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA

Yesterday 14:01

Nov 13 (Reuters) - Credit Agricole CAGR.PA:
Credit Agricole said on Friday that a decision by the board of Banco BPM BAMI.MI to give its CEO Giuseppe Castagna a mandate to engage with Credit Agricole CAGR.PA over its merger proposal, showed the strategic merits of its offer.
"Credit Agricole is approaching these negotiations with enthusiasm and determination, convinced of the strategic interest and strong potential for value creation of the project, for the benefit of customers, employees, shareholders and the Italian economy," it added in a statement.
Banco BPM said on Thursday that following a very preliminary review of Credit Agricole's proposal, the transaction would create a banking group of primary standing, but deprive BPM of any takeover appeal, meaning shareholders would need to be adequately compensated.
Credit Agricole on Monday proposed combining Banco BPM - of which it owns 29.6% - with Credit Agricole Italia in a transaction that would leave the French bank holding around 45% of the merged entity and create Italy's third-largest banking group.
Further company coverage: CAGR.PA

 (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
 ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com;))