ALESSANDRO PROFUMO wants to step down as chairman of Monte dei Paschi di Siena once the troubled Italian bank has completed its 3-billion-euro (US$3 billion) share sale, according to Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

    Asked to comment on the report, Profumo told Reuters the issue would be discussed later this week, once the Monte dei Paschi foundation, a key shareholder, has approved a list of nominees for the renewal of the bank’s board.

    “We’ll discuss it Tuesday after the foundation’s decision,” he said in a text message.

    The foundation meets Tuesday to approve a list of candidates ahead of a Monte Paschi shareholder meeting in mid-April convened to approve both the rights issue and the new board.

    The departure of the veteran Italian banker would not come as a surprise as Monte Paschi is looking for a buyer and is expected to seal a merger shortly after it has filled the capital gap which was revealed in the industrywide health checks last year.

    The Monte dei Paschi foundation is tied by a shareholder pact to U.S.-based investment firm Fintech Advisory, controlled by Mexican billionaire David Martinez, and Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual. Together they control 9 percent of the bank.

    The pact allows the foundation to propose its own candidate to be the bank’s chairman and the other two shareholders to pick the chief executive in a joint list of board nominees.

    Il Sole 24 Ore quoted sources among the advisers of Monte Paschi’s three main shareholders as saying that Profumo had agreed to be reappointed chairman due to pressure from regulators but there was an accord that he would step down once the share sale was completed.

    Monte Paschi is due to launch the rights issue around the end of May and beginning of June.

    (SD-Agencies)