BPE Bper Banca SPA

   By Cristina Roca 
 

Banca Carige SpA shares trade sharply higher after its owner confirmed that it has received more than one preliminary, non-binding offer for its majority stake in the troubled lender.

At 1104 GMT, shares in Banca Carige traded 12% higher at EUR0.90.

FITD, Italy's deposit-guarantee fund, said Thursday that it will examine the offers in depth, and that the assessment will be completed soon, probably when its management committee meets on Monday. It didn't name the bidders.

BPER Banca SpA last month made a non-binding offer for Carige. FITD said the terms of the offer weren't acceptable, but signaled a willingness to negotiate. A merger between BPER and Carige would create a larger player in Italy's fragmented banking sector.

According to media reports, Credit Agricole SA has now thrown its hat in the ring as well. The French bank declined to comment on the matter.

The offers for Carige are "subject, among other things, to verification and due diligence activities that contemplate the granting of exclusive rights," FITD said.

It isn't clear whether the FITD will grant exclusivity to one bidder as soon as it completes its assessment of the offers, Equita Sim analysts said in a note.

FITD bailed out Carige in 2019 and holds 80% of its shares. The expressions of interest in Carige follow the collapse of talks to reprivatize Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, another struggling bank that was rescued by the Italian state a few years ago.

Write to Cristina Roca at cristina.roca@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 07, 2022 06:34 ET (11:34 GMT)

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