Assicurazioni Generali Buys 3% Stake in Intesa Sanpaolo in Defensive Move

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME--Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA said Friday it bought a 3.04% stake in Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, in a defensive move aimed at stopping the bank from buying a large stake in Generali.

Last month, the insurer had bought voting rights worth 3.01% of Intesa's share capital via a securities lending transaction in a bid to block a potential takeover move by Intesa. It said Friday it has started the process to terminate this transaction.

According to Italian regulations and under certain conditions, a listed company can't hold more than 3% in another listed company's voting rights if the latter already owns voting rights equal to more than 3% of the former company's share capital.

This means that if Intesa bought a stake in Generali larger than 3%, the voting rights corresponding to the exceeding capital would be frozen. In addition, Intesa would have to sell the exceeding shares within a year. Intesa could avoid these restrictions if it launched a takeover bid for at least 60% of Generali's capital.

The bank, which is Italy's second largest by assets, recently said a tie-up with Generali was one of the many options it was assessing as part of its strategy of growth in the insurance, asset management and private banking sectors.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2017 13:07 ET (18:07 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.