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Italy's Unicredit seeks state aid
AFP - Thursday, March 19
MILAN (AFP) - - Italian banking giant Unicredit will request up to 4.0 billion euros (5.2 billion dollars) in state aid from Italy and Austria, the bank said Wednesday after reporting a collapse in profits in 2008.
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The bank's profits fell 38 percent in 2008 to 4.01 billion euros and by 56.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year alone because of a "severe financial crisis," the bank said in a statement.
The board has "mandated the CEO to negotiate the terms and conditions related to the issuance of government capital instruments for an amount of up to 4.0 billion euros" from Austria and Italy, the bank said.
Unicredit said it was seeking the aid "with the aim of further strengthening the existing policy of strong support to the economy and in order to align the group to the European competitive context," as other banks had received aid.
Results were in line with market expectations and Unicredit's share price soared 12.65 percent on the Milan stock exchange in early afternoon trading.
Unicredit chief executive Alessandro Profumo described 2009 results as satisfactory, saying "so far, so good," but he added it would be a "tough year."
Profumo also said the group had seen a "solid ... contribution" from activities in central and eastern Europe at the start of the year.
Unicredit, Italy's biggest bank, has been particularly badly hit by the financial crisis because of its international reach and its high degree of participation in financial markets compared to other Italian lenders.
Its German unit HypoVereinsbank (HVB) said separately that it suffered a 2008 net loss of 671 million euros, compared with a year earlier profit of some two billion euros as its trading and investment bank operations were savaged by the crisis.
Unicredit's share price has come under pressure recently because of the bank's exposure in central and eastern Europe, where many once-buoyant economies have been plunged into a severe credit crunch and economic crisis.
Last month, international credit risk rating agency Moody's warned that western European banks involved in the former Soviet bloc would face "continuous" downward pressure on their ratings because of the exposure.
In October last year, Unicredit launched a 2.3-billion-euro bond issue and announced cost-cutting measures amid fears over its liquidity. Libya also became a major stakeholder in the bank, investing nearly 1.5 billion euros.
In November, the bank reported a 54.2-percent slump in profits for the third quarter, blaming "extreme conditions on financial markets."
Unicredit has also been hit by the financial scandal surrounding disgraced New York financier Bernard Madoff, with an exposure of up to 75 million euros.
In its results statement on Wednesday, Unicredit said its commercial banking had "a solid performance" with operating profits up 9.3 percent to 12 billion euros while the investment banking division made a loss of 1.287 billion euros.
The crisis also pushed up bad debts at the bank, which rose 12.3 percent to 41.8 billion euros.
Unicredit employs more than 174,000 people and has over 10,000 branches.
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The entrance to Italy's UniCredit headquarters in Milan. Italian banking giant Unicredit will request up to 4.0 billion euros (5.2 billion dollars) in state aid from Italy and Austria, the bank said Wednesday after reporting a collapse in profits in 2008.
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