Intesa Sanpaolo, the largest bank by total assets and the biggest lender in Italy, is to sell its entire stake in payments group Nexi.
Nexi, formerly known as the Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane, experienced a rally in shares following its better than expected quarterly results last week. Its shares closed at €9.76 on Monday, up from €8.916 last Wednesday.
Capitalising on the share rally, Intesa sold its 5.1% stake in Nexi at €8.70 per share through an accelerated book-building process. The bank said that it had earned €584 million from the deal.
Intesa bought a 9.9% stake in Nexi in 2020 for 653 million as part of a broader €1 billion deal where Intesa sold its retailers’ payment business to Nexi and agreed a 25-year partnership with the bank. Intesa’s holding subsequently shrunk when Nexi merged with Nets and SIA and issued new shares.
Intesa did not say what it would use the proceeds towards, but said that the 25-year partnership would be unaffected by the sale.
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