Spain’s Banco Santander Central Hispano has attempted to block the planned merger between the Italian banks Sanpaolo and Banca Intesa due to concerns over share swap ratios in the deal.
Santander, which is a key shareholder in Sanpaolo, has claimed that the share swap was insufficient and has called in Deutsche Bank to give an independent judgment of the issue. Executives from the two banks met have already met to give their approval for the merger. If it goes ahead it could create one of Europe’s top ten largest banks, worth an estimated €72 billion.
France’s Credit Agricole, currently Banca Intesa’s largest single shareholder, has agreed to the merger after initially refusing to give its consent, although it has announced plans to reduce its 17.8 percent stake to around 4.5 percent.
The French bank will now buy Intesa branches, which will need to be sold as a result of the merger for antitrust reasons.