(Reuters) -Italian asset manager Banca Generali, subject of a takeover bid by Mediobanca, reported a net profit of 89.9 million euros ($104.1 million) for the second quarter on Tuesday, in line with analysts’ consensus provided by the bank.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Mediobanca’s all-share bid for Banca Generali is one of multiple M&A moves that are reshaping the Italian finance landscape.
Mediobanca said in April it planned to acquire the private bank from Italy’s top insurer Generali, in which the merchant bank is the single largest investor, to fend off an unsolicited bid from smaller rival Monte dei Paschi (MPS).
Banca Generali, which began evaluating the 6.6 billion euros bid in May, did not provide new information on the topic in the earnings statement.
KEY QUOTE
“At our annual convention in September, we will announce important developments in terms of products and services, which will significantly enhance net inflows quality as soon as October,” Banca Generali CEO Gian Maria Mossa said in the statement.
WHAT’S NEXT
Mediobanca in June delayed the shareholder vote on the Banca Generali bid until September 25, preventing a likely defeat from shareholders who oppose the deal, according to four sources.
The acceptance period for MPS’s offer for Mediobanca began on July 14 and will run until September 8. As of Monday, take-up had reached 0.03% of Mediobanca’s share capital, data from Borsa Italiana showed.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Milan are looking into the Italian government’s sale of a 15% stake in MPS to a small group of investors last November, two sources said. That sale kicked off the wave of M&A activity in the Italian banking sector.
($1 = 0.8637 euros)
(Reporting by Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
