The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said that the Italian government will assess in the coming weeks the evolution of the integration proposal launched by the French bank Crédit Agricole for Banco BPM and its subsidiary in the country, emphasizing that the Government will act in defense of Italy’s strategic interests when asked whether it would be willing to block the deal.
"We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks. As is natural, we always do what is required of us—what the law stipulates—when exercising our prerogatives to defend the national interest. We have done it in the past and we will continue doing it in the future; this applies to all," Meloni said to the media in the city of Bologna.
The Rome Executive has at its disposal the so-called 'Golden Power', a mechanism that empowers the Government to veto or impose conditions on corporate operations that affect companies considered strategic for the country.
Last Monday, Crédit Agricole’s board of directors formally presented Banco BPM with a merger proposal with its Italian subsidiary, in a new move toward bank concentration in Italy, as the French entity detailed in a statement.
Crédit Agricole’s proposal includes a premium of 20% over the transaction, along with the payment of an extraordinary dividend of 1,000 million euros. If the transaction goes ahead, the French group’s stake in Banco BPM would rise from the current 29.6% to 45%.
The completion of the merger is expected for the second half of 2027, provided it obtains the necessary approvals. Crédit Agricole estimates that the agreement would make it possible to generate cost synergies of 800 million euros per year.
The structure of the deal places Banco BPM as the core of the resulting structure, keeping its listing on the Milan Stock Exchange. The proposal remains in a preliminary phase and has been submitted to BPM’s board of directors for analysis.