Bain and Advent join race for ICBPI

Kenny Wastell
02 February 2015

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Bain Capital and Advent International are understood to be part of a consortium bidding to acquire Italian specialist bank Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane (ICBPI).

According to media reports, the two firms have tabled a bid just short of €2bn weeks after it was reported Permira had bid €2.2bn for the bank, which specialises in payment services.

A spokesperson for Advent declined to comment on the story, though it is understood the reports are broadly reliable. Bain was unavailable for comment at the time of publishing.

ICBPI’s cooperative owners are in the process of appointing advisers for a formal auction, according to Reuters, with Mediobanca and Equita considered frontrunners.

In the coming weeks, the Italian government is set to ratify new banking regulations that would see the country’s largest banks transformed into joint stock companies.

If passed, the law would remove the one-vote-per-shareholder structure of the 10 largest players in the sector, paving the way for mergers and acquisitions.