The Italian bank UniCredit made a takeover offer on Monday of its domestic rival Banco BPM against about 10 billion euros, in a move it said was separate from its pursuit of German bank Commerzbank.

The deal, if completed, would merge two of the largest banks of Italy. UniCredit said in a statement early Monday that it was offering 6.657 euros for each share – a small premium over Friday’s closing price of 6.644 euros.

UniCredit said the acquisition would allow the bank to “further strengthen its role as a leading pan-European banking group”.

Monday’s news follows a flurry of M&A announcements in the European banking sector this summer.

In September, UniCredit increased its stake in German bank Commerzbank to around 21% and submitted a request to raise its stake to up to 29.9%. Earlier that month, the Italian bank had acquired a 9% stake in Commerzbank, with half of that stake having been acquired by the German government.

The German government has yet to “bless” the potential merger, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying in late September, according to Reuters, that “hostile attacks, hostile takeovers are not a good thing for banks.”