On Thursday, Italy's fourth-largest bank, BPER, announced a 4.3 billion euro ($4.46 billion) all-share bid for Banca Popolare di Sondrio, as part of the ongoing wave of takeover activities in the country's financial sector.
BPER and Banca Popolare di Sondrio share their primary shareholder, Unipol, an insurer that distributes its products through both banks.
BPER detailed that it plans to issue 29 new shares for every 20 shares of Banca Popolare di Sondrio, offering a premium of 7.8% based on Thursday's closing prices, as calculated by Reuters.
The bank aims to acquire at least 35% of Banca Popolare di Sondrio's capital plus one share to gain control over the rival.
Anticipating a combined net profit exceeding 2 billion euros by 2027, BPER foresees the deal closing in the second half of 2025.
With BPER having a market capitalization of approximately 9.74 billion euros, significantly higher than Banca Popolare di Sondrio's 4.17 billion euros, as per LSEG data.
Although Unipol's CEO Carlo Cimbri previously expressed skepticism about a merger between BPER and Banca Popolare di Sondrio, the move was widely anticipated.
This bid is part of a series of unexpected acquisition offers reshaping the Italian banking sector, following Banco BPM's bid for Anima Holding and a stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and Monte dei Paschi's bid for Mediobanca.
Non-solicited offers are uncommon in finance but have gained momentum since Intesa Sanpaolo's acquisition of UBI in 2020.
BPER disclosed an adjusted consolidated net profit of 1.40 billion euros for the full year, as per a statement by the Modena-based bank.
(1 euro = 0.9634 USD)