Friulia sides with Sparkasse, Civibank’s hard reaction: “He betrayed Friuli”

CIVIDAL. Civibank took a tough stance against Friulia in the Sparkasse affair.

Here is the note released by the Cividale credit institute.

“Friulia’s behavior was unexpected, she did not wait to read the official positions of the Friulian Civibank in response to the takeover bid launched by Sparkasse, but she gave a pre-adhesion to the South Tyrolese who immediately used it for their own communication purposes.

In fact, Friulia has not observed – says Civibank – the dictates of Consob which, on the occasion of the takeover bid, reminds that “the formation of a correct and objective opinion on the offer can only derive from the contrast between information flows originating from interests if not opposites (as in the case of a “hostile” takeover bid), certainly different (bidder and issuer), so that a well-founded judgment on the bid certainly cannot be formed on the basis of the information made available by the bidder alone, through the document of offer, but also the one made available by the issuer “, through the Civibank press release issued only on Thursday afternoon.

Probably – claims Civibank – the prospect of immediately realizing the € 440,000 capital gain to replenish one’s balance sheet (or other valuations) weighed more, after the regional finance company had entered into the capital of Civibank only a few months ago, at prices discounted by the capital increase.

The situation of the thousands of private shareholders of the bank is quite different, who have higher carrying prices, and who have instead supported the growth of the Friulian bank in all these years and were beginning to look forward to the fruits of their sacrifices right now, with a congruous dividend and with promising prospects for the near future.

In the event of a successful tender offer, this virtuous path of autonomous growth will be interrupted, in exchange for a price very different from that expected by the small shareholders, who are instead asked to step aside.

Unfortunately Friulia, of which Civibank is also a partner, did not take the opportunity to take the opportunity to take sides in defense of the only regional bank that remained autonomous, forgetting the role that Civibank, with its head and legs in Friuli Venezia Giulia, had and may have for the entrepreneurship and local families and underestimating the negative experience of other economies unfortunately left without regional banks.

Civibank is in fact – the note continues – implementing an important stand-alone plan that has already made it possible to achieve 14 million net profits in 2021, with the return to the distribution of the dividend.

The same is expected for the next few years, with the acceleration of the growth path. Among the qualifying elements of the Civibank Industrial Plan, the synergy with the other financial forces of the region stands out with the aim of “creating a system” and already grounded in different areas, such as the Frie, Development Fund, microcredit, agreement on Tourism Fvg, private equity, “Covid protocol”, etc. To the point that Friulia, after having extensively studied the Civibank Plan last summer, had decided to enter the capital of the Friulian bank with two million euros plus a subordinated loan, remunerated at 5%.

Therefore, Friulia’s “concerns” are not understood, precisely in consideration of the important and consolidated joint activity already carried out over the years and in various fields, with the common purpose of supporting the territory of Friuli Venezia Giulia, and the positive prospects for autonomous growth of the Banca di Cividale. “