Monte dei Paschi's profit beats forecasts as Intesa prepares to launch offer

MILAN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Italy's third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), on Friday beat analyst expectations with its third-quarter profit as larger rival Intesa Sanpaolo prepares to launch a buyout offer to take it over.

• MPS became the target of a €34 billion cash-and-share bid by Intesa in June. Intesa, Italy's biggest bank, will need to break up MPS's branch network to address competition issues

• Last week MPS shareholders rejected a defence plan of CEO Luigi Lovaglio after Intesa upped its offer and threatened to walk away, securing the backing of the Tuscan bank's biggest investor, Italy's Del Vecchio family

• Net profit in the July-September period rose to €543 million, above a €533 million company-provided analyst consensus forecast

• Revenue also topped expectations, at €2 billion

• Intesa is expected to kick off the tender phase of its offer in the week of November 23

(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Giulia Segreti)