Italy’s second-largest lender UniCredit on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter profit beat, raising shareholder returns amid market focus on the bank’s M&A overtures.Italy’s second-largest lender UniCredit on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter profit beat, raising shareholder returns amid market focus on the bank’s M&A overtures.
Italy’s second-largest lender UniCredit
Net profit attributable to the group came in at 1.969 billion euros ($2.03 billion) in the fourth quarter, compared with an analyst forecast of 1.803 billion euros, according to a LSEG-compiled consensus.
Revenues reached 6 billion euros over the period, versus analyst expectations of 5.898 billion euros.
UniCredit has been at the epicenter of Italy’s nascent push for consolidation since the second half of last year, following its surprise build — and later increase — of a stake in Germany’s CommerzbankBanco BPMtold Bloomberg his opening bid for Banco BPM was only a “fair starting point.”
The German administration has decried UniCredit’s “very aggressive, very opaque, untransparent” bid for Commerzbank, with Rome likewise resistant on the domestic front, amid broader government plans to form a third Italian banking titan alongside Intesa Saopaolo4.1% stake build in Italy’s top insurer Generali Group
Critically, Italy operates under so-called golden powers legislation which permits Rome to intercede or set conditions on foreign and domestic corporate takeovers in key sectors such as defense, energy, communications and banking.
Market participants are watching which of its twin-pronged suits UniCredit will commit to, or whether it will ambitiously keep both targets in sight.
This breaking news story is being updated.