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Monte dei Paschi di Siena said the European Central Bank had approved its proposed takeover of larger rival Mediobanca.
The Italian lender said in a statement on Wednesday that the central bank had given the deal the go-ahead with no specific thresholds.
Some analysts and industry insiders had expected the regulator to set some specific take up thresholds for the deal to go ahead because of a series of cross shareholdings between investors in both Monte dei Paschi and Mediobanca.
The conditions set by the ECB include submitting an integration plan within six months from the deal detailing funding strategies as well as IT and cyber security risks.
Monte dei Paschi, whose single largest shareholder has been the Italian state since a 2017 bailout, launched a €13.3bn takeover of its larger rival in January that would shake up Italy’s banking sector.
Milanese lender Mediobanca rejected the approach as “contrary to its interests” and value destructive.