Further to an article published on Bloomberg on 1 November 2017 at 14:14CET UniCredit is issuing this clarification in order to avoid any market uncertainty.
UniCredit confirms that the FINO transaction has been closed - as already communicated to the market on 17 July 2017. The second phase of FINO is proceeding as planned and UniCredit is expecting to sell down its stake to below 20 per cent by year end. The bank has already selected a preferred bidder on one portfolio and has narrowed down to a few bidders on the other one. As soon as the bank has reduced its stake below 20 per cent, it will apply for the "Significant Risk Transfer" to ECB, expecting a positive impact on CET1 of 10bps, again as communicated in its press release of 17 July 2017.
The ECB has supervisory powers however the quantification of the price of the transaction does not fall under its direct remit; hence any allegations about any ongoing examination are ungrounded. As customary all information related to the transaction have been transmitted to both regulatory and supervisory authorities as well as reviewed by external auditors.
Furthermore, UniCredit confirms that all costs and charges pertaining to the FINO transaction have been accounted for, including a one-off charge of €80 m booked in Non Core in 3Q17 as included in the disclosure on 24 October 2017 of 3Q preliminary results.
UniCredit also confirms that, as already published in the rights issue prospectus, an average price of the transfer of the portfolios sold as part of the FINO transaction of approximately 13 per cent of the gross book value (€17.7 billion, calculated as at 30 June 2016) was used for purposes of preparing the pro-forma statements.
As far as management fees are concerned, they are deducted from the fund's performance and apply pro rata to the share held by each investor of the fund. The management fees are consistent with fair market practice.
Milan, 1ST November 2017