Refinitiv Newscasts - Breakingviews TV: MPS wreckage
02/08/2021 14:46
Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_5pfyc4ud&referenceId=1_5pfyc4ud&pageId=RefinitivNewscasts Source: Reuters Description: New UniCredit Chief Executive Andrea Orcel is considering a purchase of Monte dei Paschi. This requires a delicate negotiation with the Italian state, the troubled Tuscan bank’s top investor. Politics could be another complication, Lisa Jucca explains. Short Link: https://refini.tv/2VoE1t9 Video Transcript: UniCredit's new CEO Andrea Orcel is not wasting time. Three months into the job, the veteran dealmaker is considering a takeover of troubled bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena. That involves a delicate negotiation with the Italian state which owns 64% of the Tuscan lender, following a 2017 bailout. MPS has a capital shortfall of EUR2.5 billion and it emerged as the weakest European lender in a banking stress test on Friday. But Orcel made it clear that any purchase would have to be capital neutral on his bank. He also won't take over any non-performing loans. The state will also have to find a solution to billions of Euros of outstanding legal claims and for the bank's redundant headquarters in Siena. Politics is another complication. Center-Right League leader Matteo Salvini says he opposes a fire sale. Meanwhile, Center-Left PD leader Enrico Letta, whose running in a by-election in Siena itself, may struggle to accept redundancies of up to 7,000 jobs. Yet, if left under government ownership, MPS risks becoming a long-running drag on Rome's finances, much like ailing airline Alitalia