Intesa Sanpaolo secures control of Monte dei Paschi after shareholder vote

Intesa Sanpaolo will take control of Monte dei Paschi di Siena after shareholders rejected a plan to keep the Italian rival at bay. The vote took place on Thursday in Siena, clearing the path for a takeover valued at 33 billion euros, or 36 billion dollars. This outcome ends the independence of the bank, which has operated for more than 550 years.

Luigi Lovaglio, the chief executive officer of Monte dei Paschi, sought investor support for a defense strategy. He failed to secure the necessary backing, a move that allows Intesa to proceed with its acquisition. Intesa initially launched an unsolicited cash and share bid for 30.6 billion euros in June. The acquiring bank later added 800 million euros in cash to the offer. This increase was contingent on shareholders rejecting Lovaglio's counter-proposal.

The proposed deal includes a structural break-up of the target bank. Intesa plans to sell half of Monte dei Paschi's 1,200 branches to insurer Unipol. These sales will include the central offices located in Siena. Unipol will then merge the acquired assets with BPER, a regional bank it already controls. The combined entity will operate under the Monte dei Paschi brand.

The bank traces its origins to 1472 when it began as a Monte Pio. Local authorities in the Medieval Tuscan city-state of Siena established it to aid victims of usury. In 1624, the institution adopted its current name after Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany granted a state guarantee for revenue from pasture lands. The term Paschi translates to pastures in Italian.

The lender expanded across central and southern Italy from the 1910s through the 1980s. It listed on the Milan stock exchange in 1999. In 2007, Monte dei Paschi purchased Banca Antonveneta from Santander for 9.9 billion euros. This price was 50 percent higher than the amount Santander had paid for the bank months earlier.

Financial pressures mounted during the 2008 crisis. The bank issued 1.9 billion euros in special bonds to the Italian Treasury in 2009. The Bank of Italy provided 6 billion euros in emergency liquidity in 2011. Monte dei Paschi posted a 4.7 billion euro loss for 2011 following goodwill writedowns. It raised 5 billion euros in equity in 2014 before emerging as the worst performer in European banking stress tests.

The state bought 68 percent of the bank for 5.4 billion euros in 2017 after the European Central Bank declared it solvent. Italy reduced its stake to 39.2 percent in 2023 and to 26.7 percent in March 2024. In 2024, the state sold 15 percent of the bank to investors including the Del Vecchio and Caltagirone families, Banco BPM, and Anima Holding. In January 2025, Monte dei Paschi bid for Mediobanca and secured 86 percent of it by September.

In 2026, the board and shareholder Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone attempted to oust Lovaglio. The Del Vecchio family and other shareholders reinstated him as CEO. Delfin, Caltagirone, and smaller investors ultimately sided with Intesa Sanpaolo in the recent vote. Lovaglio loses his position as a result of the rejected defense plan.