By Andrea Mandala and Valentina Za
MILAN (Reuters) – BPER’s bid for Banca Popolare di Sondrio was not previously agreed, a person close to the Italian bank said on Friday, after it became the latest takeover target in a series of bids rocking the industry.
BPER, Italy’s fourth-largest bank, unveiled the 4.3 billion euro ($4.5 billion) all-share buyout offer for smaller peer Popolare di Sondrio late on Thursday.
A tie-up would bring together two banks whose main shareholder is Unipol, Italy’s second-largest insurer which has a near 20% equity stake in each lender.
The Pop Sondrio source said its board would meet in the coming days to make an initial assessment of BPER’s offer.
Unipol Chief Executive Carlo Cimbri has bet on commercial accords with banks to sell the insurer’s products, buying stakes to secure the partnerships, and backing the expansion of BPER’s branch footprint.
He is now moving to defend Unipol’s distribution network, given the sector’s shake-up, one person with direct knowledge of his thinking said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
BPER said that given the shareholding structure, the bid would give it control with as little as 35% of Pop Sondrio plus one share.
BPER, based in the town of Modena famous for its automakers, including Ferrari, and its cured meat products as well as balsamic vinegar, jumped in size in 2020 by buying 600 branches in the Intesa Sanpaolo-UBI merger. It then swallowed up troubled Genoa-based rival Carige.
BPER is offering 29 new shares for every 20 shares of BPSO shares tendered, a premium of 7.8% based on Thursday’s closing prices, according to Reuters calculation.
The latest unsolicited bid in Italian banking follows similar moves by UniCredit on Banco BPM and state-backed Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) on Mediobanca.
Unsolicited bids are historically rare in global banking, making Italy the exception.
The chain reaction was set in motion by Italy selling a stake in bailed-out MPS in November, which brought onboard as shareholders Banco BPM and two Italian investors with large stakes in Mediobanca and insurer Generali.
The prospect of an eventual tie-up between Banco BPM and MPS prompted UniCredit’s swoop on BPM. That left MPS, which has always been seen as in need of a partner and had been looking at BPM, with no option but to bid for Mediobanca.
Unipol’s Cimbri had offered to strike an insurance deal with MPS and take a stake in the Tuscan lender, but Italy’s conservative government did not follow up on an offer that came from a camp traditionally close to left-wing political forces.
($1 = 0.9639 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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