Monte dei Paschi Launches EUR34 Billion All-stock Bids for Banco BPM, Banca Generali
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) on Friday launched parallel all-stock offers for Banco BPM (BAMI.MI) and Banca Generali (BGN.MI), seeking to create a financial industry giant with over 810 billion euros in total financial assets.The offers value the banking group Banco BPM at 25.3 billion euros and the wealth manager Banca Generali at 8.7 billion euros. Under the terms approved by the MPS board, Banco BPM shareholders will receive 1.567 newly issued MPS shares for each share held, and Banca Generali shareholders will receive 6.958 newly issued MPS shares for each share held.The proposed transactions offer "an attractive option for MPS shareholders, preserving the integrity of the value of MPS and its historic brand," the bank said. MPS itself received a takeover offer from larger rival Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) in June, valuing the target at 30.6 billion euros.The MPS board said in July that Intesa Sanpaolo's offer of 1.6 newly issued Intesa Sanpaolo shares and 1 euro in cash for each MPS share represented a lower-than-average premium, compared with similar transactions in the Italian banking sector.Upon completion of the two parallel offers and taking into account the effects of the Mediobanca (MB.MI) merger, MPS shareholders would own about 50.1% of the combined group, with Banco BPM shareholders holding 37.2% and Banca Generali shareholders 12.7%.Separately, the MPS board proposed an extraordinary distribution of 4 billion euros, comprising 1 billion euros in cash and 3 billion euros in Assicurazioni Generali (G.MI) stock. Mediobanca holds a 13% stake in the Italian insurer.MPS shares were up almost 1% in Milan, while Banca Generali shares were more than 2% in the red and Banco BPM shares also edged down during early trading.
