56.6 percent of the capital was present at the meeting.
Shareholders also authorized the BoD to exercise the power to be able to waive in whole or in part one or more of the conditions for the effectiveness of the offer that have not yet been fulfilled, such as the one related to the threshold of acceptance of the offer (at least 66.7 percent) and the one related to the ECB's authorization of the applicability of the regulatory benefit on capital, known as the 'Danish Compromise.
The green light from the ECB has not yet arrived, and the bank, confident of a positive response, cannot rule out the possibility that this may occur later after the end of the take-up period of the Opa.
The convening of the meeting to authorize the proposed changes to the Opa on Anima became necessary due to the passivity rule imposed with the Ops launched by UniCredit, which limits the board's room for maneuver.
The acquisition of Anima, in which Banco Bpm is the main shareholder with almost 23 percent, is "an operation of industrial significance and constitutes a pillar for the growth of our group and for the achievement of the industrial objectives we presented last February," commented CEO Giuseppe Castagna in explaining the transaction at the shareholders' meeting.
Thanks to the commitments to subscribe to the Opa already received from Poste Italiane, Fsi and the management of the Sgr, and considering the stake already held, Banco Bpm has already secured 44.8 percent of Anima's capital with the Opa.
(Andrea Mandalà, editing Claudia Cristoferi)
