UniCredit bid a hostile one says BPM director

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 26 - A 10 billion euro all-share takeover bid for Banco BPM by Italy's second biggest bank UniCredit is a hostile one, a BPM director said Tuesday.
    UniCredit on Monday launched the surprise 10 bid for its domestic rival which UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel said would take precedence over a potential move on German lender Commerzbank.
    Under the acquisition of Banco BPM, which has long been a potential buyout target, UniCredit would become the third-largest lender in Europe for market capitalization, after British group HSBC and Switzerland's UBS, and ahead of Spain's Santader.
    The government is unhappy about the bid as the executive had favoured the creation of a so-called 'third pole' in domestic banking between State-controlled Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), out of which the State is currently divesting after major restructuring, and BPM.
    MPS, the world's oldest bank, is currently seeking a partner and the potential merger with BPM, which recently acquired 5% of MPS stock, had attracted the support of a number of major economic players including the Caltagirone and Del Vecchio families.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni's government is reportedly weighing whether to invoke its 'golden power' clause to block UniCredit's potential takeover of BPM, it being seen as a nationally strategic asset.
    Entering BPM's office Tuesday morning for a meeting to assess the bid, director Mauro Paoloni answered "yes" when asked if the UniCredit move was hostile.
    Meanwhile French banking giant Credit Agricole, the largest shareholder in Banco BPM with 9.2% of the capital, said it had not asked the European Central Bank for authorization to exceed the 10% threshold of the bank led by Giuseppe Castagna. (ANSA).