Italy’s Gualtieri Wants Monte Paschi Saved Not Broken Up

(Bloomberg) --

Italy is seeking “a revamp not a break up” of Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Italian Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri said.

“The path to follow is a search for a strategic partner,” Gualtieri told reporters in Berlin on Saturday. “We sold non-performing assets, a de-risking operation that allows Paschi to be relaunched.”

The Italian state plans to dispose of its majority stake in the lender by the end of next year and Gualtieri has signed off on a draft decree which authorizes the sale of the Treasury’s holdings. He dismissed calls by some politicians to sell assets separately as a way to exit the bank.

“The debate in Italy over how the state should dispose of its stake is somewhat bizarre lately,” Gualtieri said.

Monte Paschi, founded in 1472, was bailed out by Italy in 2017. The government ended up with a 68% stake that it has agreed to sell as part of a deal with European regulators reached at the time of the bailout.

The government can begin a sale or merger process for Paschi after completing a complex transaction that would allow it to move more than 8 billion euros ($9.5 billion) of soured debt to state-owned asset manager Amco.

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