CEO Luigi Lovaglio's plan aims to bolster MPS and fend off Intesa Sanpaolo's 30.5-billion-euro Opas. Approved with nine votes in favour and four abstentions.
The board of directors of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Mps) has approved the plan put forward by CEO Luigi Lovaglio to launch two separate public exchange offers for Banco Bpm and Banca Generali, in order to build an industrial alternative to the public tender and exchange offer (Opas) launched by Intesa Sanpaolo for the Siena-based bank.
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The decision came on Thursday, at the end of an extraordinary meeting of Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s board.
On the table were possible countermeasures to defend against Intesa Sanpaolo’s Opas worth around 30.5 billion euro, with the banking group seeking to take control of the Siena-based lender through an offer to Mps shareholders.
The response, submitted to the Rocca Salimbeni board by CEO Luigi Lovaglio, envisages two separate public exchange offers (Ops), paid entirely in Mps shares, for Banco BPM and Banca Generali.
After about seven hours of talks, the Mps board of directors approved Lovaglio’s plan with nine votes in favour and four abstentions.
The aim is to increase Mps’s scale and weight within Italy’s banking system by creating a larger banking group.
The deal could also reshape the shareholder base of Banco Bpm: among the bank’s main investors is Crédit Agricole, which holds a significant stake. Mps’s offer for Banco Bpm has not been agreed with the bank’s management and therefore adds a fresh element to an already complex confrontation between major shareholders. Banca Generali, controlled by Assicurazioni Generali, is also part of Mps’s strategy, through a transaction separate from the one targeting Banco Bpm.
Crédit Agricole is not commenting, for the moment, on Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s board decision to pursue an offer for Banco Bpm, the French bank told news agency Ansa. Banca Generali has likewise issued no comment following the green light from the Mps board for the second exchange offer.
Salvini defends Mps and claims credit for the bank’s revival
Deputy prime minister and League leader Matteo Salvini weighed in on Thursday on possible developments in Italy’s banking system, stressing the need to protect "the history, autonomy and staff" of institutions such as Monte dei Paschi di Siena, "symbols of the industriousness of cities with centuries-old traditions."
"We are closely following the proposals for a future overhaul of the Italian banking system," Salvini said in a statement.
Salvini claimed the League’s role in saving and relaunching Mps. "We enthusiastically took part in the rescue of Monte dei Paschi, one of the new government’s first measures, restoring lustre to a historic name that had become a symbol of mismanagement by the left in Tuscany. Seeing it return to centre stage in Italy’s economy is a success of which, as the League, we can only be proud," the deputy premier said.
Attacks on the government "embroiled in the banking merger game"
On Thursday morning, Italia Viva senator Ivan Scalfarotto criticised the Meloni government’s stance on the banking merger game, calling it "absurd and inexplicable".
Scalfarotto accused the executive of intervening both in the UniCredit–Banco Bpm deal and in Intesa Sanpaolo’s Opas on Mps, urging the government to keep a neutral stance.
"We have reached the point of madness, whereby in just a few months the government has gone on the attack against both CEOs of the two most important banks in the country. We are not cheerleaders, we believe in the market: the numbers are what counts, let the best win," Scalfarotto said.
"We are not concerned about the future of Orcel, Messina, Lovaglio or Donner; what matters to us is that the government stays out of these games. We are calling for government neutrality, and yet once again Meloni’s people are forcing their way into financial battles from which they should stay away," the Italia Viva senator added.
Market reaction
In the meantime, markets are reacting to the banking merger game.
According to data recorded on Thursday, Milan’s Piazza Affari was moving higher, up a cautious 0.35%. Mps shares were gaining 1.05%, while Bpm was edging up 0.21%. Banca Generali, controlled by the Lion of Trieste, was in the spotlight, advancing 2.08%. Intesa Sanpaolo was up 0.90%, while Generali added 0.61%. Unipol, which has an agreement with Intesa linked to the Opas on Mps, was instead down 1.97%.
