Unipol, the Italian insurance company, has decided in favor of launching a counter-bid for Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) in response to a takeover bid by Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).
Unipol says it will launch a bid for 59% of BNL’s capital at E2.70 per share, representing an overall outlay of E4.94 billion. The bid is expected to be tabled in September.
The company added that it already controls 14.92% of BNL and will have a 64.83% stake in the bank if the bid is successful. A E2.6 billion capital increase is also planned by the bank to fund the operation.
Unipol’s bid will compete with Spanish bank BBVA’s takeover bid of E6.8 Billion, launched in June and expected to end this Friday.
Unipol said it will also be selling about E1.5 billion in assets in 2005 and 2006 and expects to issue E1.2 billion in debt by the end of the year.
If the bid is successful Unipol and BNL will be Italy’s fourth largest financial group with approximately 9 million clients, 1,000 bank branches and 1,869 insurance agencies.