CERNOBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - Italy's top bank UniCredit <CRDI.MI> will assess strategic options when drawing up a new business plan next year, its chairman said, when asked about a possible merger with France's Societe Generale <SOGN.PA>.
UniCredit CEO Jean Pierre Mustier is widely expected to seek a merger for the Italian bank after completing the turnaround he started on his arrival in mid-2016. Analysts and press reports have often singled out SocGen as a likely merger partner.
"We have a business plan based on organic growth. We'll have to do a new plan during 2019 and we'll assess all available options at that time," UniCredit Chairman Fabrizio Saccomanni told reporters at the Ambrosetti business forum on Saturday.
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, writing by Valentina Za, editing by Alexander Smith)
