Milano, 06 October 2004

Banca Intesa’s Board of Directors met today and approved the proposal made by its subsidiary Nextra for a settlement with the Parmalat Group related to the bonds purchased in June-July 2003 for a principal amount of 300 million euro.

 

Banca Intesa confirms that the Group has been absolutely correct in its business dealings and makes clear that the settlement has been resolved upon in order to prevent the spreading of any worries among its customers in the wake of the Group’s involvement in long-lasting legal actions.

 

In no way will either the clients or capital strength of Nextra be affected by the settlement costs. Nextra will be financially supported in the transaction by its controlling shareholders Banca Intesa and Intesa Holding Asset Management.

 

Charges related to this settlement – 160 million euro which accounts for approximately 1.5% of the net interest and other banking income foreseen for the Group for the full year – are exceeded by the extraordinary income expected for the second half of 2004. In particular, today the Board authorised transactions related to real estate companies of the Group resulting in capital gains for approximately 80 million euro at the consolidated level to be added to capital gains for approximately 120 million euro from the sale of real estate assets.