(Bloomberg) — The Italian government is planning to meet with UniCredit SpA Chief Executive Andrea Orcel as early as Monday to discuss topics including the bank’s hostile bid for Banco BPM, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Neither Premier Giorgia Meloni or Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti are expected to attend the talks that are focused on a complicated net of cross holdings involving both UniCredit and the government, said the people, asking to not be named discussing confidential plans.
While the event is part of routine meetings that the bank’s leader periodically holds, the occasion will be used by government officials to discuss Orcel’s moves on Italy’s financial industry, including his bid on Banco BPM SpA and the stake purchase of Assicurazioni Generali SpA, the people said.
Plans for Orcel’s Rome meeting with government officials could still change, said the people. UniCredit and the Italian government declined to comment.
The government owns stakes in key financial institutions, giving it a central role in the frenzied wave of dealmaking seen in the country’s financial sector in recent months.
UniCredit is the key player in a series of unsolicited deal proposals that are reshaping Italian and European finance more broadly. It now controls a 28% holding in Germany’s Commerzbank AG, a mix of shares and derivatives, and launched a takeover bid on smaller Italian rival BPM in November to create the country’s biggest lender.
In his most recent surprise move, Orcel this month built a stake in Generali, potentially giving him more influence in future deals.
Orcel has repeatedly said he considers the Generali stake as a “financial” investment and doesn’t plan to buy the insurance firm. But the holding in Italy’s largest insurer may become a bargaining chip because the company’s largest investors are themselves involved in a series of other mergers and acquisitions — including the government-backed bid by Monte Paschi on Mediobanca.
The Italian government, especially officials in junior coalition partner League, is wary of the UniCredit-BPM takeover, according to Bloomberg reporting. That’s because the government envisioned BPM to be part of Meloni’s plan to create a third major banking conglomerate in the country.
