MILAN (Reuters) – A large U.S. investment bank is considering building up a 10% stake in Italy’s Banca Popolare di Sondrio, Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper reported on Thursday, without citing sources or naming the investor.
The move would also pave the way for the entry of UniCredit in the group’s shareholding, the newspaper said, without giving further details and adding that UniCredit declined to comment.
Banca Popolare di Sondrio declined to comment on the report.
UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel said there is “a lot of noise from people who try to create transactions but numbers don’t fit”, commenting on the report in an interview on Bloomberg TV.
In September, financial group Unipol more than doubled its stake to almost 20% in Pop Sondrio in a move that was seen as potentially driving consolidation in the sector.
Unipol also controls a near-20% stake in Italian bank BPER.
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(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi and Andrea Mandala; Editing by Varun H K)