Frankfurt (Reuters) – The European Central Bank (ECB) gave its green light to the acquisition project by Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena of its competitor MediBanca, a source told Reuters to the fact of the file, while a series of mergers and acquisitions reshapes the Italian financial sector.
Monte Dei Paschi (MPS), who embodied for a decade the difficulties of the sector until his bailout by Rome in 2017, took the short markets in January with an offer for the Milanese business bank, formerly considered as an engine of Italian capitalism.
A spokesperson for the ECB refused to comment.
In Milan, around 2:24 p.m. GMT, MPS earned 6.10% while MediBanca was up 4.52%, resulting in a 3% gain in the Italian banking index.
The offer follows the sale by the State, in November, of a participation in Mediobanca in a group of Italian investors, including the Families Del Vecchio and Caltagirone, who are also leading shareholders of Mediobanca.
This sale is currently under investigation by Milan prosecutors, sources told Reuters at the beginning of the month.
The European Commission also inquires about this operation to verify whether it was processed properly, two sources said to Reuters on Tuesday, confirming information from the Financial Times.
The commission refused to comment.
Banca Akros, the broker who dealt with the sale, said that he had complied with the rules and practices governing such transactions, and that he duly treated all the purchase orders correctly subject.
The current MPS value is estimated at 8.7 billion euros, while the market capitalization of Mediobanca is close to 16 billion, more than the 14.6 billion proposed by MPS for all the shares of its competitor.
The approval decision was taken by the BCE prudential supervisory board through written procedure. It must now be approved by the Council of Governors of the ECB.
It will then be communicated to MPS, which should officially launch its offer in July and make it last for several weeks during which the investors of Mediobanca will be able to bring their shares.
(Francesco Canepa report in Frankfurt and Valentina ZA in Milan, with Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, Mara Vîlcu for the )
Copyright © 2025 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
