Monte Paschi Bids 34 Billion for BPM, Banca Generali

Banca Monte dei Paschi is seeking to buy two separate banks for a combined value of 34 billion ($40 billion) as it seeks to prevent being bought by rival Intesa Sanpaolo. The Italian lender said it's launching an all-share bid for Banco BPM valuing it at 25.3 billion and another one for Banca Generali valuing it 8.7 billion, according to a statement Friday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. Tommaso Ebhardt reports from Milan.