Monte dei Paschi shareholders reject two takeover bids worth €34 billion
Key Facts
Shareholders of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena on October 29 rejected the share-swap offer for Banca Generali, with 90.9% of the capital present voting against the proposal, 6.66% supporting it and 2.41% abstaining. The vote was part of Chief Executive Luigi Lovaglio’s plan to defend the bank against an improved takeover offer from Intesa Sanpaolo. Shareholders had also rejected Monte dei Paschi’s offer for Banco BPM, ANSA reported, citing the meeting result. Shareholders representing 65.86% of the bank’s capital attended the meeting, Chairman Cesare Bisoni said. Lovaglio’s two expansion bids therefore fell, as Intesa had made their rejection a condition of its offer for Monte dei Paschi.
Monte dei Paschi made its offers for Banco BPM and Banca Generali in the form of share swaps, with their combined announced value totaling 34 billion euros when they were unveiled in August 2026, Reuters reported. The stated aim of the plan was to derail Intesa’s offer for Monte dei Paschi, which Reuters valued at 33 billion euros, or 37 billion dollars. Intesa had tied its improved offer to Monte dei Paschi shareholders rejecting the competing bids. Investing.com also reported that Intesa made an 800 million euro increase in the cash component of its offer conditional on shareholders rejecting specific resolutions at the meeting. The vote on Lovaglio’s plan thus added a direct element to the course of Intesa’s offer, as shareholders rejected the two proposals at the center of that plan.
Monte dei Paschi’s September estimates said the Banca Generali offer was expected to generate about 400 million euros in annual pre-tax synergies at full run-rate. The group estimated that half of the savings would come from cost cuts, with the other half from higher revenue and funding sources. It expected one-off integration costs of about 400 million euros before tax. The group said synergies would reach their full run-rate in 2029, while integration costs would be incurred over 2027-2029. The rejection means the planned expansion deal, with estimated benefits and costs, has fallen through, alongside its role in Lovaglio’s plan to counter the takeover offer for the bank.
Two proxy advisers had previously taken a negative stance. ISS recommended in October that shareholders reject Monte dei Paschi’s offers for Banca Generali and Banco BPM. The adviser said the plan carried high execution risks and complexity arising from the integration of multiple parties. Glass Lewis also recommended rejecting both offers, according to reports on its recommendation. Those positions came ahead of the shareholder meeting that decided the proposals’ fate. At the meeting, Lovaglio said: "We have achieved what many thought was impossible over the past four years," highlighting what he described as the bank’s achievements during that period.
In market data recorded by EL7, shares listed under the ticker BMDPF closed at 11.99 on October 27, compared with a close of 12 on October 22. EL7 data do not specify the currency used for these two prices. On the economic front, Italy’s consumer confidence index fell to 90.3 points in October from 91.2 in September, according to the Italian National Institute of Statistics. By contrast, the composite business confidence index rose to 96.6 points from 95.9. Italy’s unemployment rate held at 6.3% in September, while youth unemployment fell to 19.9%, down 0.4 percentage points from the previous month.
The Italian National Institute of Statistics’ calendar lists the release of the preliminary estimate of third-quarter 2026 gross domestic product on October 30 at 10 a.m. It also scheduled October consumer price data for release at 11 a.m. the same day. The releases are part of Italy’s next economic data agenda following the meeting. Intesa has tied the fate of its offer for Monte dei Paschi to the bank’s shareholders rejecting the Banco BPM and Banca Generali bids. Shareholders rejected the two offers in the bank’s vote on October 29.