Axa seeks better Monte dei Paschi deal after leading capital raise
Axa, the biggest private backer of Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s rights issue last month, is in talks to secure more lucrative insurance commissions from the Italian bank.
Last month the French insurer agreed to sub-underwrite €200mn of the €900mn offered to private investors, providing a lifeline to MPS as it tried to plug a capital shortfall though its seventh rights issue in 14 years.
Many investors had shunned the deal because of MPS’s dire record: a series of scandals, government bailouts and high profile court cases. The Italian government, which rescued the bank in 2017 and still holds a 64 per cent stake, contributed €1.6bn of the overall €2.5bn capital raise.
Earlier this month, MPS said overall take-up had been 96.3 per cent, including the Italian treasury’s contribution, and the underwriters, which include Bank of America, Citigroup, Mediobanca and Credit Suisse, that received a €125mn fee in exchange for their backing, will be left holding just €93mn.
Beyond the taxpayers and Axa other backers of the rights issue include MPS commercial partners such as payments provider Nexi and Italian asset manager Anima, junior bondholders, Italian banking foundations and a few pension funds directly controlled by the Italian treasury.
Over the summer, MPS and Anima began discussing an amendment to the terms of their existing commercial partnership. The Milan-based asset manager publicly said it was considering a contribution of up to €300mn to the rights issue in exchange for an improvement in the economic conditions of their partnership. It ultimately contributed just €25mn after negotiations broke down and Anima said it had opted for a “merely financial investment”.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli
