A high-profile asset management merger involving Italy’s largest insurer, Assicurazioni Generali SpA, has intensified an already turbulent year for banking sector consolidation in Italy, with political interference and clashing investor interests putting multiple deals on hold.
The proposed partnership between Generali and French bank BPCE SA’s asset management arm, Natixis, aims to create Europe’s second-largest investment firm. But it has met resistance, notably from prominent Generali shareholder Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone. According to Bloomberg News, some members of Italy’s government have privately voiced similar concerns. Despite this, the deal retains the backing of Generali’s leading investor, Mediobanca.
The project, unveiled in January, is expected to be formalised this summer and completed by early 2026. Once signed, the transaction will be subject to scrutiny by Italian authorities, including government entities.
Meanwhile, tensions continue to rise within Generali’s shareholder base. UniCredit has disclosed a near-7% stake in the insurer, though CEO Andrea Orcel has stated this is a “purely financial” holding, and has signalled plans to divest gradually.
Italy’s wave of financial sector mergers and acquisitions, once hailed as a new chapter in European banking consolidation, is increasingly marred by delays. While a handful of deals have made progress, most are stalled by regulatory demands or shareholder pushback.
Mediobanca’s own manoeuvres underscore the broader uncertainty. The investment bank recently postponed a key shareholder meeting to September 25, after CEO Alberto Nagel appeared likely to lose investor support for his attempted takeover of Banca Generali. The bid, launched in April, was positioned as a strategic exchange: Mediobanca offered its substantial stake in Generali in return for full control of the insurer’s private banking division, Banca Generali.
The insurer has not taken a public position on the offer, but Caltagirone has opposed it, and UniCredit - reportedly preparing to side with the Del Vecchio family - was expected to abstain from the original June 16 vote.
Elsewhere, UniCredit’s hostile takeover of Banco BPM has been derailed by Italian government conditions, which CEO Orcel has called potentially unlawful. The bank initiated the bid in a move to secure its leadership within Italy’s financial sector, but Rome’s intervention has led to a 30-day suspension of the offer, now set to resume next week. A court hearing to resolve UniCredit’s challenge to the restrictions is scheduled for July 9.
Adding complexity, Crédit Agricole has been steadily increasing its position in Banco BPM to protect existing distribution agreements, even as its own asset manager remains entangled with UniCredit over similar arrangements.
Meanwhile, state-controlled Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s unsolicited bid for Mediobanca - Generali’s top shareholder - has further stirred Italy’s already fragmented banking environment. Mediobanca has rebuffed the offer, describing it as lacking strategic rationale and potentially harmful. Yet the move is supported by both the Meloni administration and key Monte Paschi investors, including Caltagirone and the Del Vecchios.
Monte Paschi has already secured shareholder approval to advance the bid, and European Central Bank approval could come as early as next week. The public offer may then launch in July, with Monte Paschi reportedly considering a reduction in the acceptance threshold.
UniCredit has again appeared as a wildcard, having built up a 1.9% stake in Mediobanca, according to Bloomberg.
Despite the turbulence, a few transactions have moved forward. Banco BPM’s acquisition of asset manager Anima Holding SpA, which launched last November, was improved after initial terms and has since closed—making it the only completed deal in the current M&A cycle.
Separately, in a move to advance its bank consolidation strategy, the Italian government sold a 15% stake in Monte Paschi last November. Those shares were acquired by a government-picked group including Anima, Banco BPM, Caltagirone, and the Del Vecchio family, who later boosted their ownership further. Rome continues to hold nearly 12% of the bank and has yet to outline further divestment plans.
With rival investor groups, political oversight, and cross-ownership structures entangling every major deal, analysts predict further disruption. “The recent delays may not be the last,” noted Bloomberg Intelligence’s Lento Tang in a recent analysis, citing “political risk” as a persistent barrier to consolidation across the region.
While the European Central Bank has backed the principle of cross-border and domestic consolidation, the Italian experience highlights just how difficult this is in practice - especially when strategic interests, state stakes, and shareholder power plays collide.
