REFILE-UPDATE 1-Italy anti-trust watchdog digs deeper into Intesa’s UBI bid

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s anti-trust watchdog said on Tuesday it had opened an inquiry into Intesa Sanpaolo’s (ISP.MI) proposed takeover of rival UBI Banca (UBI.MI) to assess the impact of the deal on the industry given its significance.

Earlier, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters the authority had sent police officials to obtain extra documents from Intesa and its adviser Mediobanca as it stepped up an investigation of the biggest European banking merger in a decade.

The request for additional documents stemmed from the decision to open an investigation following Intesa’s initial filing, the sources said.

As well as Intesa and Mediobanca’s offices, police officials were also sent by the watchdog to UBI’s offices to obtain additional paperwork to that which has already been submitted by Intesa, the sources added.

Italy’s antitrust watchdog relies on a special body of the country’s financial police to obtain documents under such circumstances.

“Given the importance of the deal, the anti-trust authority’s inquiry will assess possible effects on competition in the banking, insurance and financial markets,” the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.

Intesa is seeking regulatory clearance for an exchange offer for UBI shares as it attempts to create the euro zone’s seventh-largest banking group, with a focus on asset management and insurance.

Intesa has agreed to sell 400-500 branches and some 20 billion euros ($22 billion) in assets of the new entity to BPER Banca (EMII.MI) to address possible anti-trust issues.

It has said it expects to be able to launch the offer towards the end of June once it has obtained the necessary regulatory green lights.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped word “the” in paragraph 2).

Reporting by Valentina Za, Andrea Mandala, Gianluca Semeraro and Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Alexander Smith and David Evans