Italy’s Treasury has suspended the sale of its 4.8% stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) until ownership of the Tuscan bank is resolved, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Tuesday.
The decision follows MPS’s announcement last week of two simultaneous offers worth a combined €34 billion ($39.7 billion) for Banco BPM and Banca Generali. The moves are widely viewed as a defensive strategy against Intesa Sanpaolo’s hostile takeover attempt, launched in June, which would dismantle MPS as an independent entity.
Giorgetti met regional politicians from Siena and Rome to discuss the future of MPS, underscoring the political stakes in the dispute. The Treasury’s stake, though minority, carries symbolic weight amid broader debates over Italy’s banking consolidation and the preservation of local financial institutions.
MPS, Italy’s third-largest bank, has framed the bids for Banco BPM and Banca Generali as a means to strengthen its competitive position and fend off Intesa’s overtures. The hostile bid from Intesa, if successful, would reshape Italy’s banking landscape by absorbing one of its oldest lenders.
The suspension of the stake sale removes a potential source of liquidity for the Treasury while the ownership struggle plays out, leaving the outcome contingent on regulatory approvals and shareholder support for either the defensive strategy or the takeover bid.
