Unicredit enters the virtual data room of Mps and begins the due diligence on the Sienese bank which in the next 40 days will be used to verify the feasibility of an agreement with the Treasury to detect - as Unicredit communicated - a "selected perimeter" of Monte to "commercial activities" only and cleared of legal risks and impaired loans.
The start of the works - which currently sees only the internal teams of Unicredit, assisted by the advisor Cappelli Rccd - takes place under the artillery of the trade unions and politics, especially local, all worried about the repercussions, especially in the city of Palio, an operation that risks obliterating the oldest, albeit battered, bank in the world.
"Ours can be a bank that maybe downsizes or maybe finds an equal partnership with some other banking entity, but there is no rush to sell it off. We can talk about it and find a synergy together. This is what I expect from the ministry. of the Treasury ", said the president of the Tuscany Region, Eugenio Giani, while from the Municipality of Siena - where the mayor will hold a press conference tomorrow - echoes" great concern ".
In fact, one of the problems to be solved is that of the general management of Siena, which Unicredit, interested in the commercial structure, does not need. From the Treasury they assure that everything will be done to limit the redundancies and defend the integrity of the Monte. But the risk of 5-6 thousand exits (to be managed on a voluntary basis with slides up to seven years, cost 1.2 billion) exists and it is no coincidence that the Mef thinks about compensatory measures in favor of the territory, investing, for example, on the pharmaceutical supply chain.
"We are facing a Pd disaster that is managing to destroy the oldest bank in the world: private yes but not like this, at the expense of the state. Now protecting the brand and employment, with a bank of the territories", attacks the leader of the Matteo Salvini League. The ranks of the postponement party are crammed and transversal: "selling a few months before the deadline set by the European Commission means resigning oneself to the sale", says Stefano Fassina di Leu. MEPs Raffaele Fitto and Carlo Fidanza (FdI) have submitted an urgent question to the Commission to ask for an extension. Without the "block of 6,000 redundancies" and the "maintenance" of the MPS brand, "a postponement is right", says Claudio Durigon, Undersecretary to the Mef of the League. Of "obvious criticalities"Michele Gubitosa (M5S) speaks: "what the government should do is ask for more time".
The Treasury, waiting for Minister Daniele Franco to report to Parliament on Wednesday, however, continues on its way, strengthened in its convictions by the outcome of the stress test, which saw MPS last in Europe. Morgan Stanley analysts see a "rationale" in covering the capital shortfall "using precautionary recapitalization without burden sharing", an option made possible by the interim state aid framework but not risk-free, given that to 'save' bondholders it must be shown that the deficit is a consequence of Covid. In any case, according to Bloomberg, Mef and Unicredit will seek a way to protect the bondholders, also by transferring the subordinated bonds to Unicredit.
"We have the great privilege of being able to count on a person like the Prime Minister Mario Draghi who is the right man", tries to cool the tone, the Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies Mariastella Gelmini. But Monte, which on Thursday will approve the half-year accounts and the transaction with the MPS Foundation, is not the only bank in trouble: Carige lost almost 11% in the aftermath of a stress test that ended with capital erosion very similar to that of Siena.
