Intesa Launches €30.6 Billion Bid for Monte dei Paschi

Italy’s largest lender, Intesa Sanpaolo, has launched an unsolicited €30.6 billion ($35 billion) cash-and-share offer to acquire rival bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), marking a new phase of consolidation in the country’s banking sector. The proposed deal offers MPS shareholders a 12.5% premium over the bank’s closing share price on Friday.

To address potential competition concerns, Intesa said it has reached an agreement with insurer Unipol to divest 635 MPS branches and the historic MPS brand if the takeover succeeds. The move mirrors a strategy Intesa used during its acquisition of UBI Banca in 2020, which helped it secure a dominant position in the Italian banking market.

If completed, the merger would create the eurozone’s second-largest banking group by market value after Santander, with a combined capitalization of €126 billion. The transaction would also intensify competition for key financial assets in Italy, including insurer Generali, while accelerating the ongoing consolidation trend among the country’s leading banks.

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