By Mauro Orru 
 

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA said late Friday that Unione di Banche Italiane SpA is heading for a delisting from the Italian stock exchange as Intesa has secured nearly 100% of its smaller rival's capital.

Intesa Sanpaolo said it would own 98.9% of UBI's capital following the transfer of shares and payment to shareholders for the sqeeze-out on Sept. 17. In February, it launched a surprise takeover bid for UBI valued $5.3 billion at the time.

The announcement follows approval from the European Central Bank for Intesa to sell 532 branches and legal relationships to Italian retail lender BPER Banca SpA as part of the Intesa-UBI deal.

The merger is set to create Italy's largest bank by assets and the eurozone's second-biggest by market capitalization.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 14, 2020 01:52 ET (05:52 GMT)