MILAN (Reuters) – Monte dei Paschi’s (MPS) former controlling shareholder Fondazione MPS ruled out playing a different role than it does at present in the bank’s future, it said on Tuesday.
Fondazione MPS President Carlo Rossi told a press conference “nobody in Italy was tearing their hair out” over the collapse in talks between the Treasury and UniCredit to sell Monte dei Paschi and this was also the view of the foundation.
After emptying its coffers to support the ailing bank over the years, the foundation has seen its holding in MPS fall to zero from more than two thirds decades ago.
“I don’t think there is a chance we could play a different role (in MPS’ future) than we do now,” Rossi said.
Rossi said that “an effort of the imagination” was now necessary to reinvent a future for MPS, adding no other buyers were in sight.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to repeat the path followed with UniCredit and look for another white knight,” he said.
“The valuation was a stumbling block in the talks, but I reckon it’s difficult another private buyer could meet the ministry’s requests … unless maybe a foreign player wanted to pay a premium to get into the Italian market,” he added.
(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Giulia Segreti)
