Intesa eyes late-November start for €33B Monte Paschi bid

Intesa Sanpaolo is lining up the final week of November to kick off its €33 billion ($37 billion) takeover of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, according to a Bloomberg report that cites people familiar with the matter. The plan calls for the tender period to open the week of November 23, though those same people warn the timetable could still shift. Investors liked the sound of it: shares in both Milan-listed banks climbed 1%. The runway is already clear on the regulatory side. Intesa locked down its final authorizations on October 28, which started a 10-day clock for Italian securities regulator Consob to sign off on the offer prospectus. Once Consob gives the nod, the bank publishes the document and formally asks Monte Paschi shareholders to hand over their shares. Antitrust approval is still outstanding, but it isn't required to get the deal moving. CEO Carlo Messina stepped on the gas after Monte Paschi's own investors blew up the rival plan last week. More than 90% of votes cast shot down CEO Luigi Lovaglio's proposal to snap up Banca Generali, leaving the Siena lender exposed and effectively inviting Intesa in. What's at stake is the shape of Italian finance. A completed deal would hand Messina control of Monte Paschi and the prized holdings sitting inside it. That means Intesa absorbing the Tuscan bank's roughly 86% stake in investment bank Mediobanca, plus an indirect 13% slice of insurer Assicurazioni Generali. All of this now hinges on Consob's paperwork and whether Monte Paschi's shareholders show up to tender. If they do, Italy's banking map gets redrawn in a single sweep.

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