UniCredit To Proceed With Takeover Offer For Banco BPM With EU Clearance

(RTTNews) - Italian lender UniCredit SpA (UCG, UNCFF.PK) announced Thursday that it has received clearance from the European Commission for the takeover offer for Banco BPM S.p.A. (BNCZF).

The company said it received a letter from the Commission informing it of the closure of the preliminary review, deciding to not initiate an in-depth investigation.

Therefore, the transaction will be authorized, pursuant to the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, as of the end of Thursday, the company added.

The offer will be launched in Italy and will be made on a non-discriminatory basis and on equal terms to all shareholders of BPM.

In late April, UniCredit had stated that it was not in a position to take any conclusive decision regarding the 14 billion euros all share offer for BPM after Italian government imposed certain conditions.

The Italian Government had issued a decree pertaining to the Golden Power process.

UniCredit then stated that it clearly intends to maintain or grow the combined entity's exposure to SMEs and further support them with its product factories.