Intesa launches $35B unsolicited bid for Monte dei Paschi

Intesa Sanpaolo Launches €30.6 Billion Unsolicited Bid for Monte dei Paschi

Italy’s largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo announced on Monday a €30.6 billion unsolicited cash-and-share bid for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, igniting a competitive battle for the world’s oldest bank just hours after rival Banco BPM proposed a merger with the Tuscan lender.

The offer, comprising 16 new Intesa shares for every 10 MPS shares plus €1 in cash per share, represents a 12.5% premium over MPS’s closing price on Friday, June 5, when MPS was valued at €27.4 billion, according to Reuters.reuters

A Race for Consolidation

Intesa’s move came swiftly after Banco BPM’s board on Sunday unanimously approved a proposal to invite MPS to discuss a “merger of equals” that would create Italy’s second-largest bank with a combined market capitalization of roughly €50 billion. BPM, which is working with Citi and Goldman Sachs, projected the deal would boost earnings per share by more than 10%, driven by annual pre-tax synergies exceeding €1.1 billion.reuters

Intesa said the combined Intesa-MPS entity would become the eurozone’s second-biggest banking group by market value after Spain’s Santander, with a capitalization of €126 billion and a net income target of €16 billion by 2029.businesstimes

The Unipol Deal and Competition Strategy

To address potential antitrust concerns, Intesa struck an agreement with insurer Unipol, the main investor in BPER Banca, to sell 635 MPS branches and the MPS brand for between €3 billion and €3.5 billion if the bid succeeds. The arrangement would allow Intesa to absorb MPS’s operations while offloading overlapping retail assets.marketscreener

Separately, Intesa’s board approved the purchase of a 3.01% stake in Assicurazioni Generali, Italy’s largest insurer. The bank described the investment as “temporary” and “purely financial,” aimed at preserving equity-method accounting once the MPS transaction closes. MPS acquired Mediobanca last year for €16 billion and holds a stake in Generali through that deal.reuters

What Comes Next

MPS has a board meeting scheduled for Monday, giving it its first opportunity to formally consider both approaches. UniCredit, Italy’s second-largest bank, has previously sought to block a BPM-MPS combination, and Credit Agricole, BPM’s largest shareholder, backed the merger proposal through its board representatives. The competing bids mark a new phase in Italian banking consolidation that could reshape the country’s financial landscape for years to come.globalbankingandfinance