Italian lender UniCredit SpA is said to be mulling a takeover of Russian lender Otkritie Bank FC as the former’s CEO Andrea Orcel explores M&A opportunities after negotiations with the Italian government for the takeover of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA failed last year. As per people familiar with the matter, UniCredit has hired an adviser and is said to start due diligence as soon as this week, Bloomberg reported. Otkritie Bank is a systemically-important bank in Russia that was rescued by the Russian government in 2017 in the country’s largest-ever bailout after the lender collapsed over its massive debt pile linked to its former owners. Otkritie is Russia’s seventh-largest bank with about 500 branches and RUB 3.3tn ($44bn) in assets, as per Banki.ru.
UniCredit’s EUR 5.375% Perps have been trading ~0.35 points lower this week to 104.81 yielding 3.85%.
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