MILAN, Aug 29 (Class Editori) - The work to redesign the Unicredit group undertaken by the CEO Jean-Pierre Mustier could also concern Turkey. After the sales of Pioneer, Bank Pekao and, more recently, Fineco, it could indeed be the turn of Yapi Kredi. According to reports from Bloomberg, Unicredit has started negotiations with the Turkish partner Koc Holding which could lead to the sale or reduction of its stake in Yapi Kredi. The discussions focus on the reorganization of the Koc Financial Services joint venture, which holds almost 82 percent of Yapi Kredi.
Apparently, Unicredit is interested in leaving the alliance (joined back in 2005) and taking direct control of its 41 percent stake in Yapi Kredi, taking into consideration a structure that would help free up capital.
The market seems to like this working hypothesis. Yesterday, just after the rumors spread - which the group preferred not to comment - the Unicredit share at Piazza Affari reversed its course turning upwards and ended the trading up by 1.76 percent to 9.89 euros, driven also by the reduction of the spread at 174 basis points.
As pointed out by Hugo Cruz, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, "direct participation would offer Unicredit greater strategic flexibility and would make it easier for the bank to free up capital from Turkey. Therefore it should be welcomed by Unicredit investors." Although Turkey represents on average 2 percent of the revenue and about 10 percent of the profits of the Italian banking group, a possible exit from Turkey "would allow to reduce the cost of the net assets and would also provide the institute with a greater capital reserve for restructuring and regulatory impacts in the next year," added the experts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
In the second quarter, Unicredit indicated an intragroup exposure to Turkey of 1.8 billion euros as well as 22.5 billion euros of risk-weighted assets, with an implicit Cet1 ratio of 8 percent. "So if the Turkish exposure were completely removed, Unicredit would have a Cet1 pro-forma ratio of 12.3 percent compared to the reported 12.1 percent," Cruz noted.
In the meantime, Mustier is continuing with the budget restructuring (see MF-Milano Finanza of August, 21) before the presentation of the new business plan, expected in December. And once the restructuring is closed, the CEO intends to focus on efficiency and business transformation. This is the obligatory path to follow in order to respond to fintech and economic stagnation: "Efficiency will come above all from the optimization of activities", explained Mustier in a recent interview with MF-Milano Finanza.
(Source:Class Editori)
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