The Italian government cut its shareholding in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena by 15% allowing peers Banco BPM and Anima Holding to buy stakes in the world’s oldest bank.

Banco BPM, Italy's third-largest bank and the Italian Treasury's preferred option as a merger partner for MPS, said it had no plans to seek supervisory approval to cross the 9.9% ownership threshold in MPS, reiterating its standalone strategy.

Italy's third-largest Banco BPM on Wednesday said it would launch a buyout offer to gain full control of asset manager Anima Holding in an up to 1.6 billion euro ($1.7 billion) deal.