MILAN (ITALPRESS) – UniCredit has been authorised by the ECB to acquire a direct Alpha Bank participation up to 29.9%. This approval once again highlights the financial strength and regulatory compliance of UniCredit. The approval by the National Competing Authorities is expected of UniCredit’s indirect participation in the regulated entities of the Alpha Bank Group. In line with the authorisation requested by the ECB, UniCredit has undersigned additional financial instruments, increasing its aggregate position in Alpha Bank to approximately 29.5%.
The increase in the position was made at a discount compared to the prevailing market prices and combined with a cover, subscribed to favorable financial conditions, to protect part of the aggregated participation from any movements to the lower, thus affecting only marginally the return of the investment. The impact on capital in the event of total conversion of financial instruments to reach a direct participation of approximately 29.5% remains around -80 basic points of the CET1 coefficient, as previously communicated. Once all remaining regulatory approvals have been received, the 9.8% share currently held by UniCredit will be consolidated with the equity method, bringing the same proportion of the net profit of Alpha Bank both to turnover and net profit of UniCredit.
The absorption of capital related to the participation of 9.8% that will be consolidated with the method of net assets is not significant. The decision on whether and when converting and consolidating the remaining position in Alpha Bank held through derivative financial instruments will be taken in the future by evaluating the trade-off between the return and the contribution to profits on the one hand, the impact on capital and distributions on the other. A similar approach is applied to 3% stake in Commerzbank held through derivative financial instruments. UniCredit will continue to pursue the interest of its shareholders.
UniCredit believes in the positive prospects of the Greek economy and banking sector. The successful partnership with Alpha Bank allows the two groups to take advantage of their respective strengths and further increase their collaboration in the fields of payments, specialized financial services, consulting, capital market, asset management and insurance products, allowing Greek customers to have access to the best products and to UniCredit to take advantage of their own factories and be able to count at the same time on a significant share of the net profits of Alpha Bank.
– IPA Agency archive photos –
(ITALPRESS).
