UniCredit suspends sale of Pionner

MILAN: UniCredit, Italy's top bank, has decided to suspend the sale of asset management arm Pioneer because offers it got were too low, Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Friday. UniCredit received offers from French groups Amundi and Natixis, British company Resolution and had had talks with Intesa Sanpaolo over a possible tie-up of fund manager Eurizon with Pioneer. A spokeswoman for UniCredit declined to comment. Several bankers and analysts had bet on a merger between Pioneer and Eurizon to create a national champion, given Italy's reluctance to let key companies fall into foreign hands. But Intesa Sanpaolo chief executive Corrado Passera put an end to such speculation on Wednesday when he said there were no current talks between his bank and UniCredit over Pioneer, Italy's second-largest fund manager. UniCredit has long been considering options for Pioneer, which investment bank Banca Leonardo valued at 3.5 billion euros ($5 billion) to 4 billion last year. Failure to sell the fund manager may lead UniCredit to carry out a capital increase to catch up with rival Intesa Sanpaolo, which is boosting its quality capital ratios to nearly 10 percent through a 5 billion euro capital increase.