Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) shareholders have overwhelmingly voted against a €34 billion bid to launch all-share takeovers of Banco BPM and Banca Generali, pushing the 554-year-old bank closer to acquisition by Intesa Sanpaolo, according to Reuters.

The newswire reported that 91 per cent of shareholders rejected the offer, which would have seen MPS form Italy’s third-largest banking group by assets, with a €466 billion balance sheet.

Under the terms of the deal, it would have offered 1.567 newly issued MPS shares for each Banco BPM share and 6.958 shares for each Banca Generali share.

Spearheaded by the bank’s chief executive Luigi Lovaglio, the bids were intended as a defensive measure against Intesa Sanpaolo’s €32 billion offer to take over much of MPS’ operations and sell 635 Monte dei Paschi branches to Unipol for €3.5 billion.

The result of the vote was expected after shareholders holding a combined 30 per cent stake in MPS publicly backed Intesa’s offer earlier this month.

On 4 October Delfin, the holding company for the billionaire Del Vecchio family, broke cover to say it had agreed to tender its 534.7 million MPS shares to Intesa. Edizione, the Benetton holding company, subsequently stated its support for Intesa’s bid.

Intesa also offered shareholders an additional €800 million in cash on the condition that they vote down Lovaglio’s counter bid.

Earlier this week, the European Central Bank granted Intesa Sanpaolo permission to go ahead with the bid, making the only regulatory hurdles remaining the Italian securities regulator and Italian Competition Authority.

The authorities are expected separately reach their final decisions before 2027. Even under the breakup deal Intesa has agreed, the deal going through would result in the creation of the eurozone’s second-largest listed bank with a capitalisation of approximately €126 billion.

In a statement reported by Reuters, Lovaglio said: “The match is not over and while the process is ongoing our commitment and our responsibility towards all stakeholders stand.”

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