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Georges Pauget: has gained a very efficient franchise in Italy for Crédit Agricole |
Crédit Agricole has held a stake in Intesa for a long time and there must have been many options that you could theoretically have pursued, so why did you choose to do this deal in particular?
Our stake in Intesa is a very long story and I think it’s very important to not forget the roots of this operation. Our stake originates from our holding in Banco Ambrosiano, which we took just after its difficulties. After that the bank merged with Banco Veneto to form Ambroveneto, and Ambroveneto merged with Caripolo in 1998 to become Intesa, and Intesa merged with Banca Commerciale Italiana in 1999. So when we made our original investment it was not in a huge national group but a bank the size of a regional bank. It is a history of 16 years.
With each subsequent merger we increased our investment proportionally and as our stake increased we also began to develop business partnerships that made sense for both sides in consumer credit and asset management.