Mps responds to Intesa with two exchange offers worth 34 billion euros on Banco Bpm and Banca Generali

The move came today, August 21: Monte dei Paschi di Siena announced the launch of two voluntary, simultaneous and parallel public exchange offers, entirely in shares, for the totality of the ordinary shares of Banco Bpm and Banca Generali. The first is valued at around 25.3 billion euros, the second at approximately 8.7: together they approach 34 billion. The bank’s statement is reported by the Alliance News agency on MarketScreener Italia and by Money.it.

A clarification on sources before the figures: both reports rely on the same corporate document, namely Banca Mps’s statement. It is a primary source — the issuer itself describes its own operation — but not an independent verification of the values indicated. The only external check available today is the price reaction.

What was announced. The operation is the countermove by the bank led by Luigi Lovaglio against the public purchase and exchange offer launched by Intesa Sanpaolo on Siena. Two separate but simultaneous offers, both shares against shares: Mps is not putting cash on the table to acquire the two institutions, but is offering its own shares in exchange for those of the shareholders of Banco Bpm and Banca Generali. According to Alliance News’s account, a distribution is also planned, made up of one billion euros in cash and around three billion in Assicurazioni Generali shares held by Mps through Mediobanca.

Item	Value
Offer on Banco Bpm	approximately 25.3 billion euros
Offer on Banca Generali	approximately 8.7 billion euros
Cash component of the distribution	1 billion euros
Assicurazioni Generali shares in the distribution	approximately 3 billion euros

How the market reacted. At the opening, the Ftse Mib was gaining around 0.4% at 52,864 points, above the other main European markets, which remained cautious. By mid-morning the three stocks involved were moving in different directions: Mps up 0.8%, Banco Bpm down 0.4%, Banca Generali falling 2.4%. The spread between Btp and Bund stood at 80 basis points. The figures are reported by Borse.it, by Economy Magazine and by SoldiOnline, all referring to Borsa Italiana quotations.

The negative sign on Banca Generali is the reaction that deserves attention: in an all-share offer, the price of the target company depends on the value of the stock offered in exchange, and today the market did not reward the second leg of the operation.

The backdrop. The overall picture of the session is not driven by banks alone. Brent oil remains above 93 dollars a barrel, with operators following tensions between the United States and Iran — the same backdrop that led us this morning to open on the two ADNOC tankers hit in the Strait of Hormuz. The link between the two stories runs through the price of crude oil, not through a shared event.

What we do not know. The available material does not include the proposed exchange ratios, the offers’ timeline, the conditions for effectiveness, the minimum acceptance thresholds, nor the authorizations required for operations of this size involving banks and an asset management company. As of publication, there are no official reactions from the boards of directors of Banco Bpm and Banca Generali, nor from Intesa Sanpaolo.

This morning’s newspapers had already placed the banking story on their front pages alongside migrants, according to the roundup by Sky TG24. From today, the figure to remember is the overall one: 34 billion euros in announced value, all in shares.