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Banco BPM Says Board to Discuss Credit Agricole Merger Proposal

Provided by Dow Jones

By Adria Calatayud

Italy's Banco BPM said its board would discuss a proposal it received from its largest shareholder, Credit Agricole, regarding a combination with the French bank's Italian operations.

BPM said late Monday that its board would receive an initial briefing on Credit Agricole's proposal at a meeting scheduled for Thursday.

The Milan-based lender said it received a letter from Credit Agricole on Sunday that proposed opening talks for a potential merger between BPM and Credit Agricole Italia that would include the French group's controlling stakes in its Italian life and nonlife insurance businesses.

Credit Agricole on Monday disclosed its approach, saying it was looking to combine its Italian banking and insurance operations into BPM and pay a 1 billion-euro ($1.12 billion) dividend to BPM shareholders in exchange for a stake of about 45% in the combined group, an increase from the 29.6% it currently holds in BPM.

The aim of the plan is to create Italy's third-largest banking group after Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit, and is the latest in a series of attempts at dealmaking to consolidate the country's fragmented financial sector.

Over the last two years, BPM has received approaches from UniCredit and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and had pitched a combination of its own to Monte dei Paschi, but none of them materialized in a deal.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 10, 2026 01:40 ET (06:40 GMT)

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