The board of directors of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Mps) has approved the plan put forward by CEO Luigi Lovaglio to launch two separate public exchange offers for Banco Bpm and Banca Generali, in order to build an industrial alternative to the public tender and exchange offer (Opas) launched by Intesa Sanpaolo for the Siena-based bank.
The decision came on Thursday, at the end of an extraordinary meeting of Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s board.
On the table were possible countermeasures to defend against Intesa Sanpaolo’s Opas worth around 30.5 billion euro, with the banking group seeking to take control of the Siena-based lender through an offer to Mps shareholders.
The response, submitted to the Rocca Salimbeni board by CEO Luigi Lovaglio, envisages two separate public exchange offers (Ops), paid entirely in Mps shares, for Banco BPM and Banca Generali.
After about seven hours of talks, the Mps board of directors approved Lovaglio’s plan with nine votes in favour and four abstentions.
