The insurer Axa has divested itself of most of its stake in the Italian entity Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) after selling 7.94% of the Italian bank for 233 million euros in an accelerated placement on the stock market and with a discount of almost 20% on its Monday closing. The French group was one of the few that attended the capital increase of 2,500 million last autumn, which the State ended up signing, which controlled 64% for several years.
Specifically, the French company has placed 100 million shares of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, representing approximately 7.94% of the share capital of the Italian entity, at a price of 2.33 euros per share in an accelerated placement in bag reserved for institutional investors.
Following settlement and delivery of the transaction, scheduled for or around March 2, 2023, Axa will directly or indirectly retain 0.0007% of the capital of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The shares of the transalpine entity closed the session on Monday at a price of 2.74 euros and have started this Tuesday with a collapse of 9% after the strong discount at which Axa left.
“As a long-time partner of the Bank in a joint venture, Axa supported the Participating Bank in its most recent capital increase as a financial investment. As Axa does not wish to seek representation on the board at the next Annual General Meeting of Shareholders or contribute in the broader long-term strategy, AXA believes it is appropriate to sell its share obtained in the capital increase,” the insurer explains.
Axa has barely lasted a few months in the capital of Monte dei Paschi. The state-backed bank backs a share issue of 2.5 billion euros to boost its solvency position of the bank. The French insurer distributes its products through MPS branches, so it participated in the issuance of shares at 2 euros per title with an investment of more than 150 million euros.
In 2017, the government bailed out the bank, taking a 64% stake in the lender. The State can contribute more than 1,600 million euros in the expansion as a last solution by not finding buyers or entities with which to merge the entity. As part of the bank-wide restructuring, MPS will lay off some 3,500 employees through a costly early retirement plan.
