Italy: Battle for Monte dei Paschi: Intesa Sanpaolo positions itself
Intesa shareholders on Thursday approved the capital increase for the planned takeover of Monte dei Paschi. But the traditional bank has a defense strategy.
Intesa Sanpaolo has moved closer to acquiring Monte Paschi di Siena (MPS) after 97% of its shareholders approved a capital increase to fund the €30.6 billion takeover. The acquisition, to be paid in cash and shares, would make Intesa the second-largest bank group in the euro zone by market capitalization. Intesa plans to sell the MPS brand and some of its branches to Unipol Assicurazioni for €3-3.5 billion, while keeping the rest of MPS's operations.
The Italian financial regulator Consob must still approve the offer document before it is sent to shareholders, likely between October and November.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's report — not a translation of it. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
