The board of directors of the Italian bank Credito Valtellinese (Creval) on Monday deemed insufficient the price of 10.50 euros per share offered by Crédit Agricole as part of its takeover bid to buy all the shares of its Italian counterpart.
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A merger between Creval and the Italian subsidiary of Credit Agricole could certainly
"generate profits"
, but the proposed price
"is not appropriate from a financial point of view,"
said the Italian bank in a statement.
The offer, which will be open on Tuesday and runs until April 21, was announced by Crédit Agricole in November, for a total price then estimated at 737 million euros.
The takeover bid aims to constitute the seventh banking group on the peninsula in terms of customers and assets, Crédit Agricole said.
The group had also specified that the offeror had to obtain at least 66.67% of the capital of Credito Valtellinese for the takeover bid to be validated.
1,200 branches and 2.8 million customers
The announcement of this takeover had caused a continuous rise in the title of Creval on the Milan Stock Exchange, where it closed on Monday at 12.12 euros.
If the offer is successful, the future set should have more than 1,200 branches and 2.8 million customers, with a national market share of around 5%.
Crédit Agricole and Creval have already established a partnership in Italy, particularly in life insurance.
The synergies resulting from a merger have been estimated over time to be at least 86 million euros per year.
Italy, which contributes 15% of Crédit Agricole's net income, is currently the group's second largest market.
