MILAN (Reuters) – The board of Mediobanca (OTC:) will meet on Tuesday to discuss a bid for the Italian merchant bank by state-backed Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), a person close to the situation said. .

On Friday, MPS joined the consolidation wave sweeping through Italian banking with a 13.3 billion euro ($13.96 billion) all-share offer to buy Mediobanca, which was welcomed by the Italian government, but left analysts and investors confused. .

In a letter sent to staff on Saturday and seen by Reuters, Mediobanca Chief Executive Alberto Nagel said that the MPS offer was not approved by the bank and that the board would express its views, with the intention to protect the interests of all stakeholders, in particular. employees.

On Friday, a person close to the situation told Reuters that the MPS offer was unfriendly, although unexpected.

MPS is offering 23 of its own shares for every 10 Mediobanca shares on offer, representing a 5% premium to Thursday’s closing price. However, MPS shares lost 7% on Friday, meaning the offer now means a 1.2 billion euro discount to the market price.

($1 = 0.9530 euros)