After Two Bailouts, Monte Paschi Faces a Challenge Wooing Investors
- Plan calls for more investor money without public backstop
- Doubts remain over bank’s ability to return to stable growth
Monte Paschi Worst of 51 Banks in EU Stress Tests
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Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA’s plan to turn to private investors to help bolster its balance sheet ended speculation for now that Italy would bail out the world’s oldest lender for a third time to help stave off another banking crisis.
Success depends in part on winning backing for a new fund that will buy the bank’s bad loans at prices that, according to at least one analyst, are higher than buyers have been willing to pay. Then Monte Paschi needs to find investors ready to provide 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) of new equity to a lender worth less than 1 billion euros.