Leonardo Del Vecchio, who owns 1.9% of UniCredit S.p.A. (BIT:UCG), opposes the lender taking over rival Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (BIT:BMPS) and is in touch with other large Italian investors who share concerns about a potential deal, two people close to the matter said. Rome is trying to reduce its 64% stake in Monte dei Paschi (MPS), after spending EUR 5.4 billion in a 2017 bailout of the world's oldest bank. MPS now needs up to another EUR 2.5 billion ($3 billion) to bolster its finances.

Italy sees UniCredit as the ideal partner for MPS, sources have said. But the Milanese bank is looking for a new boss after CEO Jean Pierre Mustier said he would step down by April after clashing with the bank's board over strategy. Mustier, who shunned mergers and acquisitions in favour of returning cash to investors, had set tough conditions for consideration of a potential MPS acquisition, sources have said.

The choice of a new CEO will have implications for any potential MPS deal. UniCredit, Del Vecchio's holding company Delfin, and the two foundations declined to comment on the report. One of the sources confirmed that the three UniCredit shareholders had held talks and said they shared concerns over an acquisition of loss-making Monte dei Paschi, adding that it was too soon to speak of a shareholder pact.

The person said one way to steer UniCredit away from a potential Monte dei Paschi deal would be to back an alternative merger. UniCredit had held preliminary merger talks with Banco BPM last year that came to nothing. One of the sources said some UniCredit investors, while sceptical about a Monte dei Paschi deal, could be willing to evaluate the conditions put forward by Rome to facilitate a sale.