By Elena Vardon

Shares in Mediobanca rose after majority-owner Banca Monte dei Paschi di Sienna said it would delist the Italian investment bank from Milan's stock exchange.

The Italian group, which is considered the world's oldest bank still in operation and remains part-owned by the government, launched a surprise bid for its Milanese rival early last year. Its aim was to combine Mediobanca's heft in investment banking and wealth management with its own strength in retail banking to create the country's third-largest lender by assets.

The bold $19 billion deal was met with skepticism from investors, analysts and Mediobanca's management, but went through in September after Monte dei Paschi secured 86% of Mediobanca shares, drastically reducing the size of its floating capital.

Monte dei Paschi will start integrating Mediobanca through a merger by incorporation, it said late Tuesday after a board meeting in which the plans were approved. The delisting from Milan's stock exchange will follow, it added, without specifying how it intends to buy the 14% stake it doesn't yet own or on what timeframe

The decision resolves lingering uncertainty surrounding the listing's future. Because Monte dei Paschi's stake fell short of the legal threshold required for an automatic delisting, the bank lost the ability to acquire the final shares at its original offer price. This left it to consider whether to maintain Mediobanca as a separate public entity--with the administrative and regulatory costs that entails--or buy out the remaining stake at a premium to incentivize the holdouts to voluntarily surrender their shares.

Shares in Mediobanca climbed 7.4% at market open on Wednesday. Monte dei Paschi's stock opened 2.9% higher.

Founded to support Italy's reconstruction efforts after World War II, Mediobanca played a central role in the country's corporate development, relying on a web of overlapping shareholdings in major companies that allowed it to pull strings across boardrooms.

Mediobanca's corporate and investment banking unit as well as its private banking activities will be transferred to a new wholly-owned subsidiary that will keep the Mediobanca name and preserve its brand, Monte dei Paschi said. The key 13% stake in insurer Assicurazioni Generali owned by Mediobanca will also be housed in this unlisted entity, it added.

Mediobanca's board late Tuesday separately acknowledged the decisions taken by Monte dei Paschi's directors.

Monte dei Paschi is set to present a business plan for the combined group on Feb. 27.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2026 03:19 ET (08:19 GMT)

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