Investing.com — said it is willing to consider a $10.2 billion takeover offer for private bank from rival (MPS), marking the latest move in a wave of consolidation sweeping Italy’s banking sector.
MPS and Banca Generali gained 1.5% and 1% in early Milan trading, respectively.
MPS, considered Europe’s oldest lender still in operation, last week launched a joint bid for Banca Generali and , offering 6.958 of its own shares for each Banca Generali share, valuing the bank at €8.72 billion. MPS said at the time the bid represented a 10% premium to Banca Generali’s share price.
Generali, which controls Banca Generali through a 50.1% stake, said late Thursday it “confirmed its willingness to evaluate MPS’s proposal, which envisages a broader industrial collaboration to develop new growth opportunities across strategically important business areas for both companies.” As majority shareholder, Generali’s backing is essential to any deal involving the bank.
The insurer said it was studying the implications of the offer, which it noted was unsolicited and had not been agreed to before being made public.
Banco BPM, for its part, said earlier this week that MPS’s bid, which values the enlarged group at more than €25 billion, lacked a shareholder premium, according to an initial assessment, and that its board would continue evaluating the offer.
The joint bid faces significant hurdles, including winning Generali’s support, Federated Hermes analyst Filippo Alloatti wrote in a note Thursday. “Monte dei Paschi would need to win over several skeptical shareholders,” Alloatti said.
MPS has said the combined group would become Italy’s third-largest bank by total assets, with a pro forma balance sheet of around €466 billion.