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Intesa Starts Italian Bank Consolidation With $5.3B Bid

By  |  February 18, 2020

Intesa Sanpaolo kicked off on Monday, February 17, the long-awaited consolidation among Italian banks with a surprise €4.86 billion (US$5.3 billion) takeover bid for smaller rival UBI Banca.

Italy’s top retail bank stated it would offer 1.7 newly issued shares for every UBI share tendered to create a European-sized player focused on wealth management and insurance, with more than €1.1 trillion (US$1.18 trillion) in customers’ financial assets.

“The banking sector is heading for consolidation in the coming years … it is in Intesa’s interest to reach a size that will allow it to compete … in Europe,” it said in a statement. 

Intesa, which was the first among Italian lenders to bet on fees to drive revenues, stated the deal would create the euro zone’s seventh-largest group by assets with an estimated combined profit of more than €6 billion (US$6.48 billion) in 2022.

If the offer is successful, Intesa would quickly delist UBI and merge with it, aiming to complete the transaction by the end of the year.

Full Content: Reuters

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