Monte dei Paschi di Siena shareholders have rejected its proposed takeovers of Banca Generali and Banco BPM, paving the way for a sale to Intesa Sanpaolo. Some 91 per cent of the votes cast on Thursday were to reject chief executive Luigi Lovaglio's plan, which he launched in August as a way to counter a €35bn hostile bid from Italy's largest bank for MPS.
Lovaglio was seeking to embark on twin takeovers of insurer Generali's wealth management arm Banca Generali and Banco BPM, after an attempt at a "merger of equals" collapsed in July over opposition from Banco BPM's main shareholder, Crédit Agricole. The vote is the latest chapter in two years of intense dealmaking in Italian banking, triggered by Rome's decision to privatise MPS. Since then, about a dozen successful and failed takeover bids have been launched, redrawing Italy's banking landscape and triggering fierce battles between executives, powerful shareholders and the government.
The Italian government had sought a merger between MPS and Banco BPM to create a banking group able to challenge the dominance of Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit. Those ambitions were derailed by a succession of takeover battles, and Thursday's rejection clears the way for Intesa's hostile bid. Under Intesa's plan, MPS would be broken up, with more than half of its branches transferred to insurer Unipol. Intesa would retain Mediobanca, which holds a 13 per cent stake in Generali. Lovaglio's plan to carve out and delist Mediobanca was also rejected.
People close to the internal conversations anticipate Intesa will have to offload additional MPS branches due to its dominant position on the Italian market, with those likely to go to UniCredit. The acceptance period for Intesa's takeover offer is due to begin next month and conclude by the end of the year.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing