(Bloomberg) -- UniCredit SpA built a minority equity stake in Assicurazioni Generali SpA, adding to a flurry of dealmaking in the Italian financial sector.
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The Milan-based lender disclosed a stake of around 4.1% in Italy’s biggest insurer, according to a statement on Sunday, confirming earlier press reports. The holding represents a “pure financial investment.”
“UniCredit has no strategic interest in Generali,” the bank said, with its focus still on a bid for Banco BPM SpA and the investment in Commerzbank AG, along with the execution of its business plan.
It’s another surprise purchase by UniCredit Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel and the latest move in a complicated web of dealmaking in Italian finance.
Generali’s main investors are Mediobanca SpA and Italian tycoons Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and the Del Vecchio family, with the two latter involved in a takeover launched by Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA for Mediobanca.
In January, Generali signed a non-binding agreement with France’s BPCE to combine their investment operations and create Europe’s second-largest asset manager. The firms would each own 50% of the entity, which would have about €1.9 trillion ($2 trillion) under management.
Based on Friday’s market closing price, a stake of 4.1% in Generali is worth about €1.97 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The new stake was built over time and has a “negligible impact” on UniCredit’s CET1 capital ratio, it said on Sunday. Separately, the bank holds an additional 0.6% of Generali stock, as part of ordinary services for clients and related hedge, it added.
--With assistance from Valentine Baldassari.
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