Chaired by Giovanni Bazoli, Banca Intesa’s Board of Directors met today and approved a spin-off of real estate assets aimed at capitalizing on the Bank’s properties no longer devoted to operating use and made available in compliance with the realization of space occupancy optimisation set out in the Business Plan. Such space optimisation will also imply lower maintenance costs and fewer rentals for savings of roughly 100 million euro per year in respect to the approximately 40 million initially forecasted in the Business Plan.

This operation refers to around 400 real estate assets of over 600,000 square meters for a book value of approximately 450 million euro.

The real estate assets to be spun-off are divided into two categories: the first includes around fifty assets mainly devoted to commercial/office use having a book value of approximately 260 million euro; the second comprises around 350 assets, that are mainly residential, with a book value of around 190 million euro.

As regards the former category, the transaction sets forth the start up of a joint-venture NewCo of which Banca Intesa will hold a 49% stake. The remaining 51% stake will be held by Beni Stabili which, thanks to its specialized know-how, will be able to realize the maximum enhancement of this type of real estate assets. This transaction will result in a capital gain of approximately 40 million euro to be recorded on the 2003 Gruppo Intesa consolidated financial statements.

The capitalization on the latter property category, to be transferred to another NewCo, will be managed directly by Gruppo Intesa