As The Banker went to press, BBVA was due to formalise its bid for Italy’s Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), the country’s sixth largest bank by assets. Preliminary indications from BBVA were that it would offer one of its shares for five BNL shares, giving the bank a value of €7.6bn. This would represent a 17% premium over BNL’s average share price in the last 30 days.
Meanwhile, ABN AMRO informed the Bank of Italy of its potential interest in Banco Antonveneta and was also due to launch a bid.
Whether or not the bids go ahead, or whether local banks like Monte dei Paschi di Siena bid as part of a consortium, the potential takeovers spell the end of the veto by the governor of the Bank of Italy, Antonio Fazio, on foreign bank takeovers of the country’s banks. He recently came under fire from the European Commission for his insistence that local consolidation take precedence. The fact that two foreign banks, with shareholdings in the banks for which they are bidding, have chosen this time to test the waters, is evidence of his waning powers.
The top five Italian banks have only about a 45% market share in loans, highlighting the need for further consolidation. But the problematic experience of integrating the first wave of local mergers means there has been a dearth of activity in the past few years. Mr Fazio has also reportedly opposed hostile in-market bids.
If BBVA’s bid succeeds, it will have to work on improving BNL’s weak retail banking franchise, said rating agency Standard & Poor’s in a report, although the Italian bank’s corporate banking operations are strong. BNL’s total assets and loans represent 25% and 33% of those of BBVA – a significant proportion.
The acquisition would represent an interesting diversification for the bank, which within the last year bolstered its Mexican and US operations through a number of purchases.
