Unicredit is not in talks with Delfin, the Del Vecchio family's holding company, over a stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena. This was firmly denied by Unicredit's CEO, Andrea Orcel, in an interview with CNBC. When asked "Are you negotiating with Delfin over a stake in MPS? Can you confirm this?", the top manager replied bluntly: "No, no, absolutely not."
The stake in Generali, Orcel said, "is still a financial investment, we are watching because the environment is moving and based on that we will make our decisions."
On Commerzbank, "we have gained control, potentially, without making any concessions, as one would normally do in a transaction. We are now quite open. We have more or less understood the situation, but we do not know what the government's intentions are or those of the workers' representatives. And, based on what we have understood, I do not think we will have difficulty reaching an agreement that is in the best interest of both parties," Orcel explained, adding that "when we speak face to face, people will realise that we agree on much more than they think."
In Italy, regarding the banking consolidation game, "for the time being, we have said it more than once, we are observers," and we are so "because we have worked very hard on the foundations of our Italian franchise and that of the rest of the group," he continued.
"Last year we said, following the BPM matter: look, we will have a growth plan and we will put all the pieces together to achieve it," Orcel recalled, indicating that "the machine is running at full capacity."
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