Unipol Gruppo Finanziario SpA Gets Latest Regulatory Approval For Merger Plan With Compagnia di Assicurazione di Milano SpA And Others-DJ

Dow Jones reported that market regulator Consob has absolved Unipol Gruppo Finanziario SpA of the obligation to acquire all of Compagnia di Assicurazione di Milano SpA in a complex operation that would create Italy's second-biggest insurer through the combination of four companies. Consob's decision is one of the final regulatory approvals awaited by Unipol before it goes ahead with a plan to take control of holding company Premafin Finanziaria SpA) and its subsidiaries Fondiaria-SAI S.p.A. and Milano Assicurazioni. Requiring Unipol to take over all of Milano Assicurazioni would have risked the operation going ahead. The process of combining the companies will take place through a series of capital increases. Unipol will first raise funds to proceed with the operation, and then participate in capital increases by Premafin and Fondiaria-SAI, taking controlling stakes in the pair of them.