ABN had already tabled an offer of E25 per share for 100% of the company at the end of March, for which it is awaiting official Italian approval from the Bank of Italy and its chief Antonio Fazio.
However, the Netherlands-headquartered finance company’s decision to immediately increase its stake to up to 20% comes in the wake of repeated moves over the last two weeks by Italian bank Popolare di Lodi to increase its share in Antonveneta.
Gianpiero Fiorani, chief executive of Banca Popolare di Lodi, is a strong advocate of keeping Italian banks Italian-owned, which may be prompting fears at ABN that the course of action his bank is taking could be designed to prevent ABN’s takeover of Antonveneta.
Since ABN Amro launched its bid for Banca Antonveneta, Popolare di Lodi has increased its stake significantly from 5% to 23.28%, which now makes Lodi the largest shareholder in Antonveneta.
Last week, it was announced that ABN received approval from market regulator CONSOB for publication of the offering document, which will be published at the end of this week. Meanwhile, the board of directors of Antonveneta announced a positive recommendation for ABN’s offer last Friday.
