Banco BPM profit beats forecasts with Anima boost after UniCredit walks away

By Andrea Mandala

MILAN (Reuters) -Banco BPM on Tuesday beat profit expectations helped by fees earned through newly acquired fund manager Anima Holding, and confirmed the full-year outlook after staving off a takeover by larger peer UniCredit.

Banco BPM became a takeover target for UniCredit in November, soon after acquiring a stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena - stoking speculation about an eventual tie-up with the state-backed rival.

The UniCredit bid, which collapsed last month after running into government opposition, is one of a dozen takeover offers reshaping Italian finance.

Asked about Banco BPM's future M&A moves, CEO Giuseppe Castagna said his bank owned 9% of Monte dei Paschi (MPS), which could "show the way" forward but, in any case, it had to see first how MPS' current bid for Mediobanca turned out.

After UniCredit swooped on BPM, MPS launched an offer to acquire merchant bank Mediobanca which ends on Sept. 8.

"We'll see what happens to MPS after the Mediobanca deal," Castagna said.

Earnings for the three months through June are the first set of figures to include Anima, which Banco BPM managed to buy as it strived to fend off UniCredit.

Second-quarter net profit stood at 704 million euros ($815 million), up from 380 million a year earlier and above an LSEG consensus estimate of 646 million euros.

Revenues met expectations at 1.55 billion euros with a 9.6% rise in fees which more than offset a 3.9% decline in net interest income amid lower interest rates.

The bank, which has long attracted takeover interest due to its roots in Italy's wealthy north, confirmed its full year net profit would be well 1.95 billion euros.

Banco BPM's main shareholder is Credit Agricole, a long-standing commercial partner. The French bank, which invested in BPM in 2022 to help its defence against UniCredit, recently bought derivatives to raise its holding to 20.1% and book a portion of BPM's earnings into its own accounts.

The core capital ratio stood at 13.3% at the end of June, hit by Anima's acquisition but above BPM's 13% target, partly thanks to risk-transfer securitisation deals.($1 = 0.8639 euros)

(Reporting by Andrea Mandalà; Editing by Valentina Za)