LONDON (Thomson IM) - The flotation of San Paolo's fund management and insurance operations, Eurizon Financial Group, on the Italian stock exchange is still a 'priority' for the new Intesa Sanpaolo, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The source told Thomson Investment Management News that Eurizon Financial Group will be floated later this year as announced in October, but dismissed rumours that a decision on the date will be made in the next few days. They said the group was not likely to set a date in the short term.
Eurizon's flotation was already on the cards last year but had been delayed by the merger between San Paolo and Banca Intesa. The merged bank had its first day's trading today.
The Eurizon division has about 190 bln eur under management and includes insurance operations Eurizon Vita, San Paolo's fund management operations Eurizon Capital - which has 130 bln eur under management - as well as further fund management operations run under the brand Fideuram.
The source said Fideuram and Eurizon Capital's fund management activities will not be merged immediately after the flotation but said they may be once the flotation has occurred.
The source said the newly created group, which constitutes the largest bank in Italy, is more likely to concentrate first on deciding the future of a mooted European joint venture between Banca Intesa and Credit Agricole Asset Management.
In May 2005, Banca Intesa's Nextra merged with Credit Agricole Asset Management Italia to form a joint venture with 100 bln eur under management.
The deal saw the French bank pay 850 mln eur to Banca Intesa for the ownership of 65 pct of the new company, called CAAM sgr. Intesa held the remaining 35 pct.
The Italian antitrust authority, however, in its report on the merger issued on Dec 20, said CAAM Sgr will have to be be dissolved in 2007, effectively forbidding the extension of the CAAM Sgr joint venture on a pan-European scale, as announced by San Paolo and Intesa in October.
Credit Agricole and Intesa Sanpaolo are still due to meet officially to discuss the pan-European joint venture by the end of January, but the source said that in reality, the parties will talk about the re-distribution of the assets under management.
The source said each party should get back the AuM brought into the joint venture as they were when it took place, and Intesa may be set to retrieve up to 70 bln eur of the joint venture's 100 bln eur.
Credit Agricole was not available for comment.
By Cecilia Valente: +44 (0) 20 7422 4925; cecilia.valente@thomson.com cv/jad/jfr COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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