Assicurazioni Generali Buys 3% Stake in Intesa Sanpaolo in Defensive Move
February 17 2017 - 1:22PM
Dow Jones News
By Giovanni Legorano
ROME--Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA said Friday it
bought a 3.04% stake in Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, in a defensive move
aimed at stopping the bank from buying a large stake in
Generali.
Last month, the insurer had bought voting rights worth 3.01% of
Intesa's share capital via a securities lending transaction in a
bid to block a potential takeover move by Intesa. It said Friday it
has started the process to terminate this transaction.
According to Italian regulations and under certain conditions, a
listed company can't hold more than 3% in another listed company's
voting rights if the latter already owns voting rights equal to
more than 3% of the former company's share capital.
This means that if Intesa bought a stake in Generali larger than
3%, the voting rights corresponding to the exceeding capital would
be frozen. In addition, Intesa would have to sell the exceeding
shares within a year. Intesa could avoid these restrictions if it
launched a takeover bid for at least 60% of Generali's capital.
The bank, which is Italy's second largest by assets, recently
said a tie-up with Generali was one of the many options it was
assessing as part of its strategy of growth in the insurance, asset
management and private banking sectors.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 17, 2017 13:07 ET (18:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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