Banco Popolare Società Cooperativa was an Italian bank, formed in 2007 from the merger of Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara and Banca Popolare Italiana. The bank merged with Banca Popolare di Milano on 1 January 2017. The bank was ranked fourth by total assets, according to Ricerche e Studi using 2015 data. The bank was a cooperative partnership. However, Italian Law N°3/2015 required all Popular Banks with total assets above €8 billion, to transform into società per azioni. In 2016 it was announced that the bank would be merged with Banca Popolare di Milano. At the same time the new bank would be registered as S.p.A. Banco Popolare was a component of FTSE MIB index of Borsa Italiana. The group had branches in 19 out of 20 regions of Italy, except in Abruzzo. Moreover, the bank was absent in several provinces of Italy, such as South Tyrol, and the province of Sondrio, Lombardy. Moreover, the bank only presented in one out of eight provinces of Sardinia and one out of five provinces of Calabria.
History
Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara
Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara, Società Cooperativa a responsabilità limitata was formed in 2002 by the merger of Banco Popolare di Verona – S.Geminiano e S.Prospero and Banca Popolare di Novara. From 2002 to 2004 the group made multiple deals with insurer Cattolica Assicurazioni on Credito Bergamasco and other joint ventures. The partnership with the insurer ended in 2007, which after the merger with BPI, the new banking group changed to partner with Fondiaria-Sai in bancassurance.
Banco Popolare
Banco Popolare Società Cooperativa was formed by the merger of Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara and Banca Popolare Italiana. After the deal a new holding company was formed, with Banco Popolare di Verona – S.Geminiano e S.Prospero, Banca Popolare di Novara, Banca Popolare di Lodi, Credito Bergamasco and Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca Pisa Livorno were the main subsidiaries. 64% of the shareholders of the new bank were former shareholders of BPVN, with the rest being the former holders of BPI. Banco Popolare also sold Banca Popolare di Mantova to Banca Popolare di Milano in 2008. In June 2009 the company became the first Italian bank to receive state aid from the Government of Italy due to the ongoing financial crisis. It sold €1.5 billion in convertible bonds to the state. On 1 January 2011 the group sold Banca Caripe to Banca Tercas, the bank only section in Abruzzo. In the same year most of the subsidiaries were absorbed into the parent companies, but remained as a brand and as internal bank divisions and departments. The incorporation of Credito Bergamasco was completed in 2014. In 2015 Banca Italease was absorbed. It became the leasing division of the bank. In 2015 the equity stake in ARCA SGR was sold to Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna and Banca Popolare di Sondrio for €95.5 million. In 2016 it was announced that the bank would be merged with Banca Popolare di Milano. The new bank would be ranked as the joint-third among the retail and commercial banks of Italy. The bank also claimed that the new bank would be ranked as the third in terms of branches and more specifically the first in Lombardy, the third in Veneto and the third in Piedmont. As part of the deal Banco Popolare would also recapitalize €1 billion in order increases its capital quality. Both banks had below 1 P/B ratio, making the share capital of the new bank roughly composed of 54% shareholders of Banco Popolare and 46% BPM. As part of the merger and demutualization, Banco Popolare had set an exit price of €3.156 per shares for shareholders who did not vote or against the merger in the extraordinary shareholders' meeting in October 2016, which was calculated by the mean of the share price of the previous six months, although it was still above the market price at that time.
