ROME (Reuters) – Bailed-out bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) said on Monday it had received an unconditional green light from the Italian government for its plan to launch a hostile buyout offer for rival Mediobanca.
The approval concludes a screening procedure based on special, or ‘golden’, powers Italy has to block or set conditions on foreign and domestic corporate takeovers in strategic sectors such as energy, banking and telecommunications.
The cabinet office has decided not to exercise the golden powers in relation to the planned takeover offer for Mediobanca, MPS said in a statement.
A costly rescue deal in 2017 handed Italy 68% of MPS. Rome has since reduced it to 11.7% through three share placements it carried out starting in November 2023 to meet re-privatisation commitments agreed with European Union authorities.
Rome is also vetting UniCredit’s unsolicited offer for Banco BPM, but in this case the government is leaning towards imposing some conditions to clear the transaction, sources have previously said.
MPS bid for Mediobanca in January, after UniCredit late last year swooped on Banco BPM, derailing government efforts to combine BPM with MPS to create a competitor to UniCredit itself and Intesa Sanpaolo.
The way Italy applies golden powers to the banking sector has triggered scrutiny from the European Commission, which has sought clarification and could launch an infringement procedure at a later stage if it does not receive a satisfactory response.
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Valentina Za)
