UniCredit secures 30-day freezing of Banco BPM bid to challenge Rome's demands

By Valentina Za

MILAN (Reuters) -Italian market regulator Consob said it had granted UniCredit the 30-day suspension of its buyout bid for Banco BPM that it had sought in response to conditions the government has imposed on the offer.

Shortly before the start of the offer tender period, Italy's government slapped a set of conditions on the bid which UniCredit says could harm it and stop it from making a final decision on whether to pursue the deal.

UniCredit, led by CEO Andrea Orcel, has objected to the demands. Consob said in a decision published on its website on Wednesday that the bank wanted a chance to prove the demands were impossible to meet in their current form.

The conditions include that UniCredit must shut its operations in Russia by January 2026 and should keep Banco BPM's loan-to-deposit ratio, which is higher than UniCredit's, for a period of five years after the acquisition.

Consob said UniCredit had told the government the conditions were unclear and did not take into account all the information the bank had provided.

The tender period started on April 28 and was due to end on June 23.

Consob said it had granted the suspension because the situation of uncertainty was such that it made it hard for Banco BPM investors to assess whether to take up UniCredit's offer.

By swooping on Banco BPM in November, Orcel derailed government plans to promote a tie-up between the Milanese bank and state-backed Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Orcel, a veteran investment banker, said he had moved to avoid UniCredit being sidelined in Italian banking consolidation.

Weeks earlier, Rome had sold a chunk of Monte dei Paschi and brought onboard BPM as a shareholder, together with a core of other Italian investors.

(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Crispian Balmer)