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Intesa Sanpaolo SpA offered to buy Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA for €30.6bn ($35.3bn) in a move that’s set to spur a new phase of deal-making in Italian finance.The takeover would create one of Europe’s most valuable banks and boost Intesa’s position as the largest lender in its home market. It would also be a defining moment for Chief Executive Officer Carlo Messina, one of the continent’s longest-serving bank heads.The offer from Intesa represents a premium of about 12.5% over Paschi’s market value of €27.2bn at Friday’s close.Banco BPM SpA pitched its own merger with Monte Paschi a day ago. That announcement didn’t disclose the valuation for each firm in the prospective tie-up and only said the market capitalization of the combined entity could exceed €50bn.A Monte Paschi takeover would be the biggest yet amid a flurry of transactions across Italian finance that kicked off in late 2024. Last year, Monte Paschi bought Mediobanca SpA while Banco BPM SpA acquired asset manager Anima Holding SpA. A takeover bid by UniCredit SpA, Italy’s most valuable bank at present, for Banco BPM was unsuccessful.Intesa is offering 1.6 of its own shares and €1 in cash for each Monte Paschi share, it said in a statement Monday.As part of the offer, Intesa has agreed to sell the Monte Paschi brand and assets including roughly half of the target’s branches to insurer Unipol Assicurazioni SpA if the deal goes through.Unipol will do a rights issue of as much as €2.5bn to support the transaction. It is expected to pay between €3bn and €3.5bn in cash.Intesa would keep the Mediobanca unit which Monte Paschi bought last year as well as that bank’s 13% stake in Assicurazioni Generali SpA, it also said.It said in a separate statement it’s buying another 3% in Generali. The purchase is purely financial and temporary to keep accounting benefits after the deal.Generali has long drawn takeover interest because of its dominant position in insurance and asset management.Takeover interest: Intesa estimated the integration costs in a Monte Paschi takeover to be about €2.1bn before one-off taxes. It projected pretax cost synergies of around €1.5bn per year along with revenue synergies of roughly €1.4bn before tax.A representative for Monte Paschi declined to comment ahead of a board meeting set Tuesday that will review the offer.Unipol will propose a merger between the purchased Monte Paschi’s assets and BPER Banca SpA, in which it is already the largest investor, the insurer said in yet another statement.Large footprint: Buying Monte Paschi’s investment bank unit would cement Intesa’s footprint in its home market where it already has more than 2,600 branches and 14mn customers, according to its website.Messina, 64, had previously said he wouldn’t get involved in domestic bank takeovers, partially over concerns that those efforts could run into competition issues.Last month, Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta said the country’s robust finance industry has scope for a new phase of dealmaking, both domestically and within the region while warning that M&A should not come at the expense of competition, and flagging the risk of excessive concentration in local markets. 

Commerzbank AG chief executive officer Bettina Orlopp vowed to boost earnings in an effort to demonstrate the bank is better on its own, a day after receiving a takeover bid from UniCredit SpA.“We are currently thinking about accelerating” the process of raising Commerzbank’s profitability, Orlopp said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Tuesday in London. “That is in the interest of all shareholders.”The comments follow a low-ball €35bn ($40bn) offer for Commerzbank from UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel on Monday, demonstrating how Orlopp is seeking to project confidence in her standalone strategy for the German lender. She can also count on the backing from the German government, which on Monday reiterated its opposition to a takeover by UniCredit.Orlopp said last month that full-year profit is expected to exceed the previous outlook of €3.2bn. “Our existing guidance should be considered as a floor,” a company spokesman clarified after the Tuesday interview. “We signaled at the time that we see considerable upside potential.”Speaking at the Morgan Stanley European Financials conference later on Tuesday, Orlopp said that the lender’s targets for profitability and costs should be seen as the minimum she plans to achieve. Commerzbank is currently targeting a return on tangible equity of 15% by 2028, and a cost-to-income ratio of 50%.“It is very likely that this is more a floor when it comes to the RoTE, and a cap when it comes to the cost-income ratio, given the movement we currently see and given also what we see already for 2026,” she said.Commerzbank rose as much as 1.6% in Frankfurt trading, extending Monday’s 8.6% rally.With a premium of just 4% over the Friday close, Orcel’s bid is only designed to push UniCredit’s stake past 30% while not giving it full control of Commerzbank. The Italian lender can subsequently choose to buy more shares in the German firm on the open market without triggering a legal requirement to make a bid, which otherwise would have happened when crossing the 30% threshold.“This is an offer at a very low price,” Orlopp said in the interview.Under Orlopp, who took over just weeks after Orcel first disclosed an interest in buying Commerzbank in late 2024, the German firm has taken strides in cutting costs and delivering higher shareholder returns. The lender’s share price has roughly doubled since she took over, though it’s down more than 10% since the beginning of the year.Orcel said his latest move is intended to open a “constructive dialog” with Commerzbank. Orlopp suggested at the Morgan Stanley conference that the bid was a tactical move, and said she was surprised UniCredit still hasn’t made a concrete proposal how it wants to create value through a deal.“One would expect that someone who has moved now so far has something in the drawer,” she said. “If we get a proposal, and we sit down and this proposal makes sense, we will recommend that.” 

Al Mana Enterprises has hosted senior leadership from Anteo SpA, Italy, reaffirming the strong and enduring partnership between the two companies. Since 2014, Al Mana Enterprises has served as the exclusive distributor of Anteo Tail Lifts in Qatar, delivering premium lifting solutions that play a vital role in the nation’s growing logistics and transport sector. The official visit was marked by the presence of Matteo Cevolani, CEO of Anteo SpA, and Paolo Leccese, export sales manager. The delegation engaged in a series of high-level meetings with Al Mana Enterprises’ senior management to review the partnership’s progress, identify new areas of collaboration, and align on strategic priorities for Qatar’s evolving market landscape. Qatar has seen rapid expansion in logistics, infrastructure, and cold chain solutions, fueled by large-scale development projects, the growth of modern retail, and rising demand for last-mile delivery. In this context, Anteo Tail Lifts have gained strong recognition for their European engineering, reliability, and safety standards, making them the preferred choice for fleets across various applications, including refrigerated transport, distribution, and logistics. Speaking during the visit, Cevolani reiterated Anteo’s commitment to the region: “Qatar represents a highly dynamic market with enormous potential in logistics and commercial transport. Our partnership with Al Mana Enterprises has been central to establishing Anteo’s presence here over the past decade. By working closely together, we have been able to deliver advanced lifting solutions tailored to customer needs, and we remain committed to supporting Qatar’s development journey in the years ahead.” Representing Al Mana Enterprises, Amr Dajani, Corporate Development Officer, said: “Anteo has been a trusted partner for over 10 years. Their confidence in the Qatari market mirrors our shared vision of bringing world-class transport solutions to our customers. With Anteo’s innovation and Al Mana’s strong local presence, we are well-positioned to expand our reach and deliver superior service and support across the country.” The discussions also focused on the importance of after-sales service, training, and spare parts support, which remain critical in ensuring maximum uptime and reliability for customers. Both companies agreed on strengthening technical training programs for local teams and introducing the latest Anteo product innovations to Qatar in the near future. The visit highlights Anteo’s recognition of Qatar as a hub for logistics growth in the Gulf, and reinforces the partnership’s shared mission to deliver solutions that combine innovation, durability, and sustainability. By building on a decade of collaboration, Anteo and Al Mana Enterprises are poised to further contribute to the nation’s logistics efficiency and transport reliability.

QatarEnergy has signed a long-term sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Messer for the supply of 100mn cubic feet per annum of high-purity helium from Qatar’s world-class facilities in Ras Laffan to global markets.This marks QatarEnergy’s first direct long-term SPA with Messer, the largest privately held industrial gases company, headquartered in Germany. The SPA signing was hosted by His Excellency Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the president and chief executive officer of QatarEnergy, and attended by Bernd Eulitz, Global chief executive officer of Messer SE & Co., during a special ceremony held at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha. The event was attended by senior executives from both companies."Messer is a leading global supplier of helium with a strong reputation and diverse assets. We are delighted to enter into our first direct agreement with Messer and to continue providing high-quality helium to the world through reliable partners," al-Kaabi said.This pact, according to him, underscores QatarEnergy’s commitment to delivering reliable resources from one of the world’s largest helium producers to support fast-growing industries worldwide.Helium plays a critical role in advanced technologies, including MRI scanners, semiconductor manufacturing, quantum computing, fiber optics, and space exploration.

Saudi Arabia's Industrial Production Index (IPI) for July 2025 recorded an increase of 6.5 percent compared to the same month of the previous year (July 2024).According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), citing the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), the sub-index for mining and quarrying, the largest component of the IPI, rose by 6.5 percent year-on-year, while the manufacturing sector index grew by 7 percent.The sub-index for electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply increased by 0.9 percent, while the sub-index for water supply, sewage, waste management, and remediation activities rose by 8.5 percent compared to July 2024.The data also showed that oil-related activities grew by 7.8 percent, while non-oil activities recorded a 3.5 percent increase during the same period.