Report: 7 M&A Deals Among Italian Banks Underway or Recently Concluded

Italy’s banking industry has reportedly seen seven merger and acquisition deals underway or recently concluded.

Some of the deals are interrelated, Reuters reported Friday (May 23).

The deals include UniCredit’s offer to buy Banco BPM that was announced Nov. 25; Banco BPM’s acquisition of fund manager Anima Holding that was completed in April; Monte dei Paschi’s (MPS) offer to buy Mediobanca that was announced in January; Mediobanca’s offer to buy Banca Generali that was announced April 28; BPER’s bid to buy Popolare di Sondrio that was announced in February; Banca Generali’s acquisition of broker Intermonte that was completed in January; and Banca Ifis’ offer to buy digital bank illimity that was launched May 19, according to the report.

It was reported Monday (May 19) that EU competition authorities extended the deadline for deciding on UniCredit’s proposed acquisition of Banco BPM. The EU antitrust body is evaluating a request by an unnamed national regulator to assume responsibility for reviewing the deal, which has prompted it to push the original June 4 deadline for a decision back to June 19.

UniCredit’s bid for Banco BPM shook up Italian banking as the offer was unexpected and marked a bold move in the ongoing consolidation of Italy’s banking sector. UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel attributed the timing of the bid to a shift in Italy’s banking landscape, following Banco BPM’s purchase of a stake in Monte dei Paschi and its bid for Anima Holding. “We cannot remain absent from that move,” Orcel said.

According to the Reuters report, Monte dei Paschi’s offer for Mediobanca also “shocked” Italian finance. MPS shareholders approved a share issue to finance the bid in April, and the tender period is set to start in July after MPS receives clearance from the European Central Bank.

Mediobanca’s offer to buy Banca Generali and make wealth management its main business was aimed to thwarting the MPS takeover bid by offering its investors an alternative to that deal, the Reuters report said.

When BPR announced its bid for Popolare di Sondrio, the bank said it made the move to protect its position amid the wave of consolidations, per the report.