Italy antitrust tells Intesa to shed a few more MPS branches for deal approval, report says

MILAN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Italy's antitrust authority has broadly accepted the measures proposed by Intesa Sanpaolo to address competition concerns related to its planned takeover of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), daily la Repubblica reported on Thursday, citing sources.

• The watchdog has sent its final assessment of the deal to the parties, paving the way for approval subject to agreed conditions

• A formal green light is expected before Intesa opens the tender phase for its bid on November 23 or 24, the report added

• According to la Repubblica, Intesa will need to dispose of only "a few dozen more" branches on top of those it has already committed to sell to insurer Unipol

• The regulator has also accepted Intesa's commitment to sell the 3% stake in Generali it had bought as a defence strategy, la Repubblica wrote

• Intesa can retain in full the 13.3% Generali stake it would acquire through MPS and its subsidiary Mediobanca, it added

• To prevent exchanges of information between the two groups, board members appointed by Intesa to Generali's board must be fully independent, the report said

• MPS declined to comment. It was not immediately possible to reach Intesa for comment

(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Giulia Segreti)