UniCredit and Italy’s Treasury are set to extend discussions over the sale of state-owned bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena beyond an exclusivity deadline on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Italy’s second-largest bank agreed at the end of July to start exclusive talks to evaluate buying “selected parts” of Monte dei Paschi (MPS), which is 64% owned by the Treasury following a 2017 bailout. The two parties agreed to guidelines for an accord at the time stating a deal must leave UniCredit’s capital reserves unaffected and boost its earnings per share by at least 10%.
Read more
Italy
The government of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is preparing its first full annual budget with a view to keeping up extra spending even with the economy rebounding faster than expected, Bloomberg News reported. Finance Minister Daniele Franco’s staff are working on a new fiscal law worth about 20 billion euros ($24 billion) to sustain measures supporting families and businesses during the pandemic, according to officials familiar with the matter who declined to be identified discussing confidential plans.
Read more
When Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi returns from his brief summer break one of the thorniest items on his "to do" list will be finally fixing the woes of the world's oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), Reuters reported. The Tuscan lender's decline has tarnished Draghi's record ever since 2008 when, as Bank of Italy chief, he approved its purchase of rival Antonveneta at an inflated price that analysts say contributed to its financial meltdown.
Read more
Italy's Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) has further reduced its legal claims to 4.9 billion euros ($5.8 billion), a slide on the Tuscan bank's website showed, marking another step in Rome's efforts to reprivatise the ailing lender, Reuters reported. MPS initially faced some 10 billion euros in legal risks, seen as one of the main hurdles to Italian Treasury's plans to cut its 64% stake in the bank by mid-2022, as agreed as part of a 2017 state bailout.
Read more
Dozens of Sicilian towns are facing bankruptcy due to the cost of cleaning up the volcanic ash left by Mount Etna, which has been erupting regularly since February, The Guardian reported. The Italian government on Monday allocated €5m to compensate several villages struggling to pay to get rid of the volcanic cinders, the cost of which can reach more than €1m with every eruption. “The situation is very serious,” said Alfio Previtera, a council official in the town of Giarre, one of the villages most affected by Etna’s ash.
The new airline being created to replace the long financially ailing Alitalia will take off on Oct. 15 with its first flights, the Italian Economy Ministry announced on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. In a statement, the ministry said the new company, ITA, will be fully operating on that date, following the positive outcome of discussions with the European Union’s executive commission. Alitalia’s last flights apparently will operate on Oct. 14.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy especially hard, killing more than 127,000 people and sending the European Union’s third-largest economy into a devastating tailspin. Yet out of that tragedy may come solutions for decades-old problems that have held back growth and productivity — and with them, a new sense of stability for the euro, the currency shared by 19 of the European Union’s 27 members, the Associated Press reported.
Read more
A group of creditors that bought Etihad Airways PJSC-linked bonds are preparing to auction $463 million of claims against insolvent airlines Alitalia and Air Berlin to recover some of their investment, Bloomberg News reported. The trustee of bonds issued by EA Partners I and II -- two special purpose entities set up by the Abu Dhabi-based carrier -- hired Barclays Bank Plc to arrange the sale, according to a statement. Potential buyers will be able to access documentation on June 21 and the auction will take place within two weeks, it said.
Read more
Italy is seizing on a bond rally spurred by bets that monetary stimulus in Europe is here to stay for a while longer, Bloomberg News reported. The government racked up more than 60 billion euros ($73 billion) of orders for its sale of new 10-year bonds. While that’s short of a record set when the continent was in the throes of the pandemic a year ago, it matches interest at the height of a bond rally in February, when yields fell to a record low.
Read more
Ryanair will appeal against funds made available to the government-owned Italian airline that will replace Alitalia as it considers them illegal state support, the chief executive of the Irish carrier said on Saturday, Reuters reported. "As soon as this money will be injected in the newco we will take the (due) steps," CEO Eddie Wilson told Italian daily la Repubblica in an interview. "We are waiting to see, but it is clear that it is illegal aid and we will defend our interest by appealing against this umpteenth loan," he added.
Read more