Monte dei Paschi's defence against Intesa: buy two banks at once

MPS's board approved twin all-share offers for Banco BPM and Banca Generali after seven hours of debate, passing nine votes to four abstentions, as Bloomberg reported. The combined group would be worth roughly €70 billion, built entirely from share swaps rather than cash, and it exists purely to give MPS shareholders an alternative to Intesa Sanpaolo's €30.6 billion hostile bid. The plan needs Crédit Agricole's blessing to work, and Crédit Agricole is the same shareholder that already killed an earlier MPS-Banco BPM merger of equals in July. Four board abstentions on your own defence plan is not a ringing endorsement.