UBI offers 1 euro for 3 good banks (4)

(ANSA) - Milan, January 12 - UBI Banca said Thursday that it has made a binding offer valid until January 18 to pay one euro to the National Resolution Fund for three of the four good banks set up in a rescue of the lenders in 2015. Italy's fifth-largest bank said it would launch a capital increase of 400 million euros as part of the operation to take over Banca Marche, Banca Etruria and CariChieti, which together with CariFerrara were rescued on November 2015, drawing four billion euros from a deposit-guarantee fund.
    UBI said it saw profits of 1.2 billion euros in 2020 from a combination of the three good banks on which it has made a binding offer. CEO Victor Massiah unveiled the estimate in a conference call.
    Massiah said "the three banks showed their abilities during the crisis".
    He said UBI would now make a capital hike "as soon as possible".
    UBI shares soared more than 9% in Milan after being suspended due to excess gains.
    The Bank of Italy, which owns the four banks through the fund, last summer rejected bids from private equity investors saying they were too low.
    The three lenders have assets worth 23.3 billion euros but are unprofitable.