Will Andrea Orcel have the chance to recreate at Unicredit the same old magic, this time as its CEO?

Yesterday, specialized media circulated the rumour (https://www.wsj.com/articles/unicredit-to-pick-andrea-orcel-as-new-ceo-11611680109) that Andrea Orcel may become Unicredit next CEO.

Regardless of the issues surrounding him, Orcel is undoubtedly a first-class banker, possibly the best FIG banker overall: I believe to have enough ground to state it.

Since the focus of the conversation is the future of Unicredit [BIT: UCG], It may be worthwhile to remind Andrea's own accomplishment in the troubled Italian banking sector, as an indication of what may happen. His biggest major accomplishment may have been executing a 4-party merger (?? CREDITO ITALIANO, ?? CASSA di RISPARMIO di TORINO, ?? CASSA di RISPARMIO di VERONA, ?? CASSAMARCA) to create the same Bank he has been now called to manage.

Bringing together a mix of people with different (geographic, professional, motivational) background and walk with them along such a profound - and unknown - transformation that is the Privatization, is in itself an almost impossible feat.

[…executing a four-bank merger in the troubled Italian banking arena was an impossible feat…]

What people may or may not know is that Andrea led several teams in creating additional value for UCG - thus making its investors happy in the process - for almost a decade after that.

It is fair to assume that in the process the pressure from - both local and national - politicians must have been intense and at times impossible to resist to (the Capitalia merger, maybe); still the company kept growing, eventually emerging as one of the EU banking sector leaders, as the subsequent HypoVereinsbank, Yapi Kredi & NewSmith takeovers might attest.

[…creating additional value for UCG and making its investors happy for a decade after that…]

UCG preserved such leadership through a modern approach to the Investor Relation function that, capitalizing on the market volatility and exploiting its value-creating opportunities, engaged and consistently brought in new investors (from several different jurisdictions).

In turn, it allowed the stock to be very liquid and sought after, eventually determining a solid alternation in the shareholders group, with several players taking the lead over the years to become the largest shareholder, thus creating the first truly public company in Italy. Its growing international appeal, also brought sudden interest to the - usually sleepy - Italian Stock Exchange, which eventually got bought out by London Stock Exchange [LON: LSE].

[…creating the first truly public company with an International appeal, in Italy…]

A long story to say that, given the time, there is plenty of value which Andrea could generate from his new position in the #future, if he finds a way to actually pursue his own vision.

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