
- Tuscany’s bailed-out Monte dei Paschi unexpectedly launched a 13-billion-euro all-share takeover proposal for Mediobanca.
- Monte dei Paschi, which required state rescue in 2017 after years of battering losses, has long been the poster child of trouble in the Italian banking sector.
- Monte dei Paschi’s investors include Mediobanca shareholders such as business tycoon Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, a key ally of the administration of Giorgia Meloni, and Delfin — the holding company of late billionaire Leonardo del Vecchio.