Monte dei Paschi di Siena set for €2.5bn rights issue
Struggling Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena will launch its €2.5bn rights issue on Monday, after a group of banks agreed to underwrite the fundraising.
After days of frantic negotiations, the bank said a pool of eight banks including Mediobanca, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse had agreed to guarantee €807mn of the share issue. Milan-based alternative investments fund Algebris has guaranteed an additional €50mn.
The group will mop up unsold shares up to a total of €857mn if investors ultimately shun the rights issue.
Italy was forced to ask the European Commission for an extension to the deadline to privatise MPS after a deal with Milan-based UniCredit fell through at the last minute at the end of 2021.
Chief executive Luigi Lovaglio, a turnround specialist hired this year by prime minister Mario Draghi’s government, has laid out an ambitious growth plan for the lender and is looking at several M&A options, according to several people familiar with his thinking.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli
