Intesa Sanpaolo complains to market watchdog over MPS defensive moves in M&A battle (updated)

Intesa Sanpaolo

26/08/2026 13:49

Adds details, context
MILAN, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Intesa Sanpaolo ISP.MI on Wednesday filed a complaint to Italy's market watchdog Consob over transactions that smaller rival Monte dei Paschi di Siena BMPS.MI (MPS) has announced following Intesa's offer for it, a source close to the matter said.
Last week MPS announced two simultaneous, all-share bids, totaling about €34 billion ($39.7 billion), on rival Banco BPM BAMI.MI and wealth manager Banca Generali BGN.MI, as it seeks to fend off a 30.6 billion cash-and-share hostile takeover approach launched by Intesa in June.
The compliant aims to clarify whether MPS has complied with regulations the source said, citing in particular the so-called "passivity rule," which restricts the scope of a target company to take defensive measures against a takeover bid. 

 (Reporting by Valentina Za, writing by Giulio Piovaccari, editing by Gavin Jones)
 ((giulio.piovaccari@thomsonreuters.com))