in forming a strategic partnership with its leasing and factoring
affiliate Banca Italease, Banco Popolare’s managing director,
Massimo Minolfi said in a recent conference call with analysts.
“We’ll have to finalise all before the end of the year and I
hope it will be the end of September,” he said. “There are three or
four companies interested. I can’t add more.”’
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Banco Popolare, the largest shareholder in Banca Italease with a
30.7 per cent stake has been looking to divest its interest in the
unit which weighed heavily on the group’s earnings after it
reported €500m in losses from derivatives trading last year.
Banco Popolare’s chief executive, Fabio Innocenzi told Italian
daily, Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview, March 30 that the bank would
focus on the retail market and lending to small and medium
companies while aiming for “alliances with specialised partners”
for all other financial services.
The write off of €330m from Banco Popolare’s books owing to
losses at Banca Italease was one of the main factors behind
its change in strategy, Innocenzi said.
Banco Popolare turned in a net profit of €617 million in 2007,
down from €732 million a year ago. Total income fell to €3.37
billion from €4.28 billion the year before.
Formed on July 1, 2007 through the merger of Banco Popolare di
Verona e Novara and Banco Popolare Italiana, the bank is Italy’s
fourth largest lender with a market value of some €7.4bn
ranking it among Italy’s mid-tier banks, which are overshadowed by
the country’s two giants, Intesa Sanpaolo which is worth around
€53bn, and UniCredit at €57bn.
