By Elena Vardon

Monte dei Paschi di Siena said the amount of shares tendered by Mediobanca investors has hit its minimum targeted level, clearing a major hurdle that brings the Italian bank one step closer to completing the 16.15 billion-euro ($18.83 billion) takeover of its larger peer.

The group aims to create Italy's third largest lender by combining Mediobanca's investment-banking heft and wealth-management business with its strength in retail banking. Monte dei Paschi surprised the market by putting forward a takeover offer for its peer in January, which Mediobanca's management rejected.

Earlier this week, Monte dei Paschi topped up its all-share offer with a cash component in a bid to win over Mediobanca shareholders days ahead of the closure of the take-up period.

The lender also waived the its condition to secure at least 66.7% of Mediobanca's shares in the tender process and said the offer would fall through if it fails to secure less than 35%.

Monte dei Paschi late Wednesday said that shares representing around 38.5% of Mediobanca's share capital have been tendered so far, meaning that it will hold a stake that exceeds the minimum threshold condition when the offer completes.

The acceptance period closes on Monday, but will reopen from Sept. 16 to Sept. 22 to give Mediobanca shareholders another opportunity to accept the offer, Monte dei Paschi added.

Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 04, 2025 02:34 ET (06:34 GMT)

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