Unipol (AO) | Buy | Unipol steps into Italian banking: MPS branches, BPER combination and a EUR2.5bn rights issue

Research evidence excerpt

Unipol (AO) | Buy | Unipol steps into Italian banking: MPS branches, BPER combination and a EUR2.5bn rights issue

News comment

Release date: 08 June 2026

Tommaso Nieddu

Equity Research Analyst

+39 02 85 50 72 18

tnieddu@keplercheuvreux.com

BuyUnipol

Italy | Insurance Beta Profile: MCap: EUR15.0bn

Target Price: EUR23.50 Bloomberg: UNI IM Reuters: UNPI.MI

Current Price: EUR20.87 Free float 48%

Up/downside: 12.6% Avg. daily volume (EURm) 48.1

YTD abs performance 1.5% Market data: 05 June 2026

52-week high/low (EUR) 22.60/16.12

Unipol steps into Italian banking: MPS branches, BPER combination and

a EUR2.5bn rights issue

Key points:

Unipol's Board has approved a strategic project to expand the Group's footprint in Italian banking. Within the framework of the

voluntary public tender and exchange offer launched today by Intesa Sanpaolo on the entire share capital of MPS, Unipol has

agreed to acquire from ISP a bank holding a carved-out going concern of MPS, the Unipol Perimeter, for a maximum of EUR3.5bn,

conditional on ISP gaining control of MPS and on the relevant authorisations.

The perimeter is a clean, going-concern retail bank: 635 branches, approximately EUR55bn of direct deposits, approximately

EUR42bn of loans, net profit of EUR400-460m, a 16% CET1 ratio, the Monte dei Paschi di Siena trademark and approximately 2m

customers.

Unipol intends to combine the acquired bank with BPER. The transaction is to be part-funded by a rights issue of up to EUR2.5bn

(circa 49% pre-committed by cooperative shareholders), and Unipol has entered two total return swaps on a further 4.99% of

BPER to lift its economic exposure towards de facto control.

Unipol will hold a conference call today to explain the deal rationale at the following link: conf. call.

The deal in brief