Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) shareholders are weighing up Intesa Sanpaolo’s €35 billion bid to purchase Italy’s oldest bank, ahead of a vote on an alternative route championed by the MPS chief executive.

Intesa launched its MPS takeover bid in June, then worth €30.6 billion, with an offer of €10.09 per share. If the deal goes through, the resulting banking group would be the eurozone’s second-largest listed bank, with a capitalisation of around €126 billion.

In August, MPS launched a defensive counter move, with chief executive Luigi Lovaglio launching all-share takeover bids for Banco BPM and Banca Generali worth €34 billion.

Intesa has since said it will pay shareholders an additional €800 million in cash if they reject Lovaglio’s defensive bids.

Lovaglio, who was reinstated by MPS shareholders in April after a month-long ousting over his handling of the bank’s takeover of Mediobanca, has urged shareholders to support his plan as a bargaining move even if they favour Intesa’s offer.

Investors are due to vote on the Lovaglio’s plan in a meeting on 29 October. In recent weeks, the defensive plan has been undermined by MPS’ largest shareholder Delfin which publicly backed Intesa’s offer.

A holding company for the billionaire Del Vecchio family, Delfin holds a 17.6 per cent stake in MPS and Intesa said it has agreed to tender all of its 534.7 million MPS shares and push back against the defensive plan.

Edizione, a holding company for the billionaire Benetton family, has also agreed to tender its 1.45 per cent stake and support Intesa’s bid.

MPS’ bid for Banco BPM is reportedly rivalled by Crédit Agricole and UniCredit, which insiders have told Reuters are eyeing a takeover of Banco BPM. Crédit Agricole holds a 29.3 per cent stake in the institution, and was integral in UniCredit.

On Monday, the MPS board met to discuss the plans. In a statement reported by Reuters, it said: “MPS board and its management will continue to ⁠work ​in the interest of shareholders, ​evaluating and pursuing any initiatives to protect investors' holdings and maximise ​their value.”

The Italian government has stated it will maintain a neutral approach and support the highest bid, despite its “golden power” rules which allow it to block or impose conditions on deals involving strategic national assets. UniCredit cited the rule as the chief reason it abandoned its €15 billion takeover bid for Banco BPM.

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