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Aabar acquires 5pc stake in UniCredit

ABU DHABI - Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments PJSC has acquired a 4.99 per cent stake worth $2.48 billion to become the second biggest shareholder in UniCredit SpA, Italy’s second largest bank.

“The financial services sector is something we are interested in,” Aabar Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny said.

“With the decline in the euro, wherever we see good opportunities that fit our profile, we will pursue this,” he told Reuters.

Aabar’s stake, purchased on June 16, is worth about $2.48 billion at current market prices.

Aabar first invested in UniCredit, the biggest lender in central and eastern Europe, in the bank’s 2008 capital increase through convertible bonds.

A spokeswoman for UniCredit in Milan declined to comment.

The Italian bank this year raised €4 billion by selling new shares, and is shedding non-strategic assets and cutting costs to strengthen its capital.

UniCredit is also discussing options for its Pioneer Global Asset Management division, one of the businesses it is reviewing.

The lender in May reported a 16 per cent increase in first-quarter profit to €520 million, helped by trading income.

“It’s good to have another strong shareholder, but the investment is unlikely to have an impact on the bank’s strategy,” said Fabrizio Bernardi, an analyst at Evolution Securities Ltd in London who has a “sell” recommendation on UniCredit shares.

Aabar fell 3.4 per cent to close at Dh1.7 on the Abu Dhabi Exchange on Thursday, valuing the company at about Dh6.87 billion.

UniCredit slipped 0.7 per cent to €1.89 in Milan trading.

Aabar is now UniCredit’s second-largest shareholder after Mediobanca SpA, and ahead of Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio Verona’s 4.98 per cent stake, according to regulatory filingsthis month.

The Central Bank of Libya owns about 4.988 per cent shares in the bank.

Aabar, which acquired American International Group Inc’s private banking unit in 2008, had bought €49.8 million of UniCredit’s convertible bonds in March 2009.

The bonds are exchangeable into ordinary shares and mature in 2050. The company also invested $328 million in Banco Santander (Brasil) SA last year by buying shares in its IPO.In March 2009, Aabar bought 9.1 per cent stake in Daimler, the world’s second-biggest luxury-car maker.

The purchase of UniCredit stake comes as Aabar considers plans to delist from the Abu Dhabi exchange.

UniCredit Group is a major international financial institution with strong roots in 22 European countries and an international network present in approximately 50 markets, with 9,800 branches and more than 165,000 employees.

In the CEE region, UniCredit Group operates the largest international banking network with around 4,000 branches and outlets.

The Group operates in Austria Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

haseeb@khaleejtimes.com