Finsoe S.p.A. (acronym of Finanziaria dell'economia Sociale) is an intermediate holding company for several coop societies of

Coop (Italy) Coop is a system of Italian consumers' cooperatives which operates one of the largest supermarket chains in Italy. Its headquarters are located in Casalecchio di Reno, Province of Bologna.Unipol Unipol Gruppo S.p.A. is an Italian financial services holding company operating in the insurance and banking fields with headquarters in the Unipol Tower, Bologna. As of 2009 it was ranked as the country's fourth-largest insurer. The company tr ...

(31.40% share capitals) and in the past, had a direct minority shareholding in

Unipol Banca Unipol Banca S.p.A. was an Italian bank based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, prior to its acquisition by BPER Banca from the Unipol group in 2019. On 25 November 2019, Unipol Banca was fully incorporated into BPER Banca and ceased to exist as a s ...

(sold to Unipol in August 2008). Until 2015 Unipol had two class of shares, making Finsoe hold 50.75% voting rights and 31.40% share capital on Unipol. However, in mid-2015 all shares were converted to ordinary shares.

History

Alliance with Casse Emiliano Romagnole

From 1995 to 2001, Casse Emiliano Romagnole (CAER), the Bank Group of Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna (Carisbo), had a

cross ownership Cross ownership is a method of reinforcing business relationships by owning stock in the companies with which a given company does business. Heavy cross ownership is referred to as circular ownership. The Japanese economy is alleged to be heavily ...

with Finsoe. CAER was a minority shareholders of Finsoe for 9.80% in 1995 and

Unipol Unipol Gruppo S.p.A. is an Italian financial services holding company operating in the insurance and banking fields with headquarters in the Unipol Tower, Bologna. As of 2009 it was ranked as the country's fourth-largest insurer. The company tr ...

(at that time Unipol Assicurazioni) had a minority ownership in CAER for 3.64%. Unipol and Carisbo also had some joint venture at that time, namely UniSalute,

Noricum Assicurazioni Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, ...

Linear Assicurazioni Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

and Banca dell'Economia Cooperativa (renamed to Unipol Banca in 2008). In 2001 Cardine Banca (ex-CAER) sold all the shares in Finsoe and Unipol Banca, which that year Cardine and Unipol had cross ownership only (Fincaer, a subsidiary, owned 3.73% ordinary shares of Unipol (2.261% of shares capitals); Unipol owned 1.80% shares of Cardine), as well as only Noricum Assicurazioni remained as a joint venture.

Alliance with BAM and Banca MPS

In 1998 Banca Agricola Mantovana (BAM) became a minority shareholders of Finsoe (5.601% as in 2000). In the same year Quadrifoglio Vita became a joint venture of Unipol, a subsidiary of Finsoe and BAM. BAM was acquired by

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (), known as BMPS or just MPS, is an Italian bank. Tracing its history to a mount of piety founded in 1472 () and established in its present form in 1624 (), it is the world's oldest or second oldest ban ...

(Banca MPS) in 1999. In 2001 Banca MPS purchased 20% shares of Finsoe . At the same time Unipol also owned 2% of Banca MPS. In February 2003 Banca MPS purchased an additional 170,281,786 number of shares of Finsoe from Hopa S.p.A. for €179.3 million, making Banca MPS owned 39% shares of Finsoe. Banca MPS also purchased 20,475,000 of Hopa shares from Fingruppo Holding for €52.9 million, which was increased from 7.671% to 9.17%. Banca MPS also contributed in the capital increases of Finsoe which was used to acquire Winterthur Italia. In 2004 Finsoe bought back the minority interests of

and UniSalute from Banca MPS. In 2005 Banca MPS did not participate in the capital increases of Finsoe. Banca MPS's ownership ratio on Finsoe was fall from 39% to 27.839%. After Unipol failed to takeover

Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) is an Italian bank headquartered in Rome. It is Italy's sixth largest bank and has been a subsidiary of BNP Paribas since 2006. History Founded in 1913 as Istituto Nazionale di Credito per la Cooperazione, ...

, on 13 February 2007 Banca MPS sold 14.839% shares of Finsoe to Holmo for €350.4 million. Immediately after the deal, Holmo owned 71.074% shares of Finsoe and Banca MPS owned 13% shares of Finsoe. In June 2008 Banca MPS sold all the shares to Finsoe and Holmo for €234.4 million. Quadrifoglio Vita was also sold by Unipol to

AXA Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

(via Banca MPS) in 2008.

Alliance with BNP Paribas

In February 2006

BNP Paribas BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the gro ...

acquired 4.5% shares of Finsoe from Holmo. The French company also acquired all the shares of

that Unipol owned. From 2010 to 2012 BNP Paribas sold all the shares of Finsoe to Spring 2 S.r.l., another intermediate holding company for the coop societies. BNP Paribas also acquired 51% shares of BNL Vita from Unipol in 2011.

Withdrew from Unipol Banca

In August 2008 Finsoe all their shares (4.99%) in

to Aurora Assicurazioni, a subsidiary of Unipol for €68.6 million. Holmo also sold 4.99% shares to Aurora in order to finance the shares buy back of Finsoe from Banca Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in June 2008.

Recent changes

As in February 2011 Holmo S.p.A., itself another intermediate holding company for the coop societies, was the major shareholders of Finsoe for 76.5%. However, the shares were transferred to the coop societies instead soon after. After the formation of Coop Alleanza 3.0 on 1 January 2016, the coop society became the largest single shareholders of Finsoe.

Shareholders

Source: # Coop Alleanza 3.0 S.C. (34.16%) # Holmo S.p.A. (23.83%) # Cooperare S.p.A. (8.61%) # Novacoop S.C. (5.50%) # Unicoop Tirreno S.C. (5.25%) # Spring 2 S.r.l. (4.68%) # P&V Assurances (3.35%) # Coop Lombardia S.C. (3.22%) # CCPL S.p.A.( 1.97%) # PAR.COOP.IT S.p.A. (1.21%) # J.P. Morgan Securities PLC (1.02%) # Parco S.p.A. (0.23%) # Unibon S.p.A. (0.18%) # Sofinco S.p.A. (0.17%) # Cesi S.C. (0.06%) # Cefla Capital Services S.p.A. (0.06%) # Consorzio Cooperative Costruzioni S.C. (0.06%) # S.C. va Muratori e Braccianti di Carpi (0.06%) # CAMST S.C. (0.03%) # Coop. Costruzioni S.C. (0.03%) # Manutencoop S.C. (0.03%) # Unieco S.C. (0.03%)

References

{{reflist, 30em Cooperatives in Italy Holding companies of Italy Unipol Group