Intesa Makes €30.6bn Play for Monte dei Paschi

Italy's banking sector is facing a fresh round of consolidation after Intesa Sanpaolo launched an unsolicited €30.6 billion bid for Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), setting up a contest for control of one of the country's most closely watched lenders.

The cash-and-share offer from Italy’s largest banking group values MPS at €10.09 each, a 12.5% premium to its previous closing price, and includes issuing 16 new Intesa shares for every 10 MPS shares.

To address potential competition concerns, Intesa has proposed selling 635 MPS branches and related operations to insurer Unipol as part of the deal structure.

The move would create the eurozone's second-largest bank by market capitalization if completed and came just days after Banco BPM — Italy's fourth biggest bank — disclosed its own interest in opening merger discussions with MPS, raising the prospect of a competitive battle for the Tuscan lender.

Intesa chief executive Carlo Messina told Bloomberg TV that "the only real offer now in the market is the Intesa Sanpaolo offer," while referring to Banco BPM's proposal as a "love letter."

Importantly, the Italian government appears unwilling to favor any particular outcome. Sources told Reuters that Rome intends to remain neutral, despite its "golden powers” that could be used to intervene in strategic transactions. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini also indicated that decisions should be left to the market rather than politicians.

The offer could be seen as another milestone in MPS's recovery story. The bank, which required a state bailout in 2017, returned to private ownership over the past two years and has since become a focal point for wider restructuring across the Italian banking market.