The Milan Prosecutor's Office has, in recent months, questioned UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel and an executive from Mediobanca as persons with knowledge of the facts, as part of an investigation into the placement by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) of a stake in Banca Mps last November.
This was reported by a source familiar with the matter.
Mediobanca declined to comment. It was not possible to obtain a comment from UniCredit at this time.
The Milan Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the placement of a 15% stake in Mps by the MEF, carried out through an accelerated bookbuilding process managed by Banca Akros (part of the Banco Bpm group) and involving four investors: Banco Bpm, Anima Holding, the Caltagirone group, and Delfin, the holding company of the Del Vecchio family.
The sale was carried out at a price above market value, an unusual occurrence for this type of transaction, which typically involves a discount.
Regarding the investigation, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti told reporters today, "The prosecutor is doing its job, what can I say...", declining to answer a question on whether he fears there are suspects within the Ministry.
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi, Italian version by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Sabina Suzzi)
