Banco Popolare gets out first to beat periphery bank deluge

By Andrew Griffin
31 Jan 2014

Banco Popolare, Italy's fourth-largest bank, launched a €1.5bn capital raise late on January 24, looking to beat its rivals and seize on positive investor sentiment before the ECB's Asset Quality Review later in the year.

There are a number of Italian banks looking to strengthen their balance sheets over the coming few months, but bankers dismissed suggestions that investors have become picky given the expected heavy supply. Last week, a €2.78bn pre-placement by Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International was lapped up by investors.

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