UniCredit: Offer for Mediocredito from Poste Italiane and ICCREA

Poste Italiane SpA and ICCREA Holding SpA may make a joint offer for UniCredit SpA’s project- financing unit MedioCredito Centrale within three weeks, ICCREA General Manager Roberto Mazzotti said. “We are weighing whether MedioCredito is the right company for the Bank of the South project,” Mazzotti said in a telephone interview. “If so, we can make a joint offer in three weeks. ” MedioCredito has a net equity value of about 130m euros ($167m), he said.

ICCREA, a holding company for cooperative banks and Poste Italiane, the state-owned company that runs the country’s postal service, said they are conducting the so-called due diligence on MedioCredito. The companies said then that they may buy Rome-based MedioCredito as part of a government plan to create a lender to help boost growth in southern Italy by offering loans to individuals and businesses.

ICCREA and Poste are considering a 50-50 bid, though “no formal agreement on the details of the offer or on governance” has been reached, Mazzotti said.

UniCredit is selling the unit as part of its plan to shed assets to help boost capital.