⁍ Intesa overcame fierce opposition from UBI’s management to take over Italy’s healthiest second-tier bank.
⁍ The deal will prepare the new group, Italy’s biggest with around 950 billion euros in assets, to play a bigger role in Europe.
⁍ Intesa plans to merge UBI into the group to maximise savings and achieve a target of 700 million euros in synergies from 2024.
– Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo is set to become the country’s biggest bank after beating out rival UBI Banca in a long and acrimonious battle. Intesa said Thursday it had won 90.2% of UBI’s shares in a deal that will create Italy’s biggest bank owning a fifth of the loan market, reports Reuters. Intesa said it would offer to buy the residual UBI shares and investors can choose whether to tender them on the same terms of the bid or receive in cash the value of their UBI shares based on a five-day average calculated as of Thursday. Intesa will now offer to buy the residual UBI shares and investors can choose whether to tender them on the same terms of the bid or receive in cash the value of their UBI shares based on a five-day average calculated as of Thursday. After naming a new board at UBI by mid-October at the latest, Intesa will be able to complete by the year-end the sale of 532 branches, mostly UBI’s, which it has pledged to spin off to win antitrust approval. An UBI shareholder meeting is expected to formally approve the merger into Intesa.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ubi-banca-m-a-intesa-sanpaolo/intesa-snaps-up-ubi-with-90-shareholder-backing-idUSKCN24V397