Italy’s Largest Bank Launches $35 Billion Bid for World’s Oldest Bank, Eyeing Eurozone Banking Crown

Italy’s biggest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, has made an unsolicited $35 billion cash-and-share offer to acquire domestic rival Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a move that would mark the largest banking transaction in Italian history and reshape the European financial landscape.Under the terms of the offer, Intesa is proposing 1.6 of its newly issued shares plus $1.15 in cash for every MPS share tendered — a 12.5 percent premium over MPS’ closing price on June 5. Shares in MPS jumped 13 percent on the news, while Intesa slipped 1.4 percent.Should the deal proceed, the merged institution would become the eurozone’s second-largest banking group by market value, trailing only Spain’s Santander. The combined entity would hold nearly $2 trillion in assets, serve more than 27 million clients, and operate some 3,000 branches across Italy. Intesa has set a net income target of $184 billion for 2029, up from a combined $15.6 billion last year. The transaction is expected to close by December 2026.Intesa CEO Carlo Messina described the offer as friendly, expressing confidence it would secure shareholder support. According to Intesa, “This offer has the strategic objective of further strengthening the European leadership of Intesa Sanpaolo in wealth management, protection and advisory, and the sustainability of value creation for all stakeholders,” the bank said in a statement. The bid effectively sidelines Banco BPM, Italy’s fourth-largest bank, which announced just days earlier that it wished to open merger talks with MPS. Under Italian takeover rules, Intesa’s formal offer now prevents MPS from pursuing any deal with Banco BPM without prior shareholder approval — a significant blow to a merger that has been in the works for years.To address antitrust concerns stemming from its 2020 acquisition of UBI Banca, Intesa agreed to sell 635 MPS branches, roughly half the total, along with MPS’ central offices in Siena, to insurer Unipol for up to $4 billion. Unipol plans to combine these assets with smaller lender BPER Banca, operating under the Banca Monte dei Paschi name.MPS, founded in 1472 and widely considered the world’s oldest bank, was bailed out by the Italian government in 2017 before being reprivatized in 2023-24. It currently employs nearly 17,000 staff across more than 1,250 branches and ranks among Italy’s top five banking groups.

Italy’s Largest Bank Launches $35 Billion Bid for World’s Oldest Bank, Eyeing Eurozone Banking Crown

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