Monte dei Paschi says bid premium offered by Intesa is too low

MILAN, July 16 (Reuters) - Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) regards the premium implied in a €30.6 billion ($34.9 billion) unsolicited takeover bid from rival Intesa Sanpaolo as too low, the

MILAN, July 16 (Reuters) - Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) regards the premium implied in a €30.6 billion ($34.9 billion) unsolicited takeover bid from rival Intesa Sanpaolo as too low, the bank said on Thursday. Under the deal, unveiled last month, Intesa would offer 1.6 of its own shares plus €1 in cash for each MPS share tendered, representing a 12.5% premium compared with MPS shares' closing price on the last trading day before the bid announcement. MPS said in a statement at the end of its board meeting that the premium was lower than the average level in comparable deals within the Italian banking sector, "equal to approximately 30% compared with the official price of the day prior to the announcement and approximately 41% compared with the one month volume-weighted average price".

MPS also said on Thursday its board would continue to assess the offer promoted by Intesa Sanpaolo thoroughly, as well as deepen the technical analyses of a separate merger proposal it received from rival Banco BPM. "The Board of Directors believes that the Combination Proposal received from Banco BPM deserves a comprehensive and rigorous assessment," it said. Banco BPM, which has France's Credit Agricole as its main shareholder, approached MPS last month to discuss a potential "merger of equals".

BPM gave no further details of a possible deal structure. Since then, however, the two banks' market values have diverged sharply. ($1 = 0.8763 euros) (Reporting by Giulio PiovaccariEditing by Keith Weir)