The Milan bourse's FTSE Mib index crossed the 51,000-points threshold on Tuesday, with merger fever lifting insurance and bank stocks.
    At the time of writing the index was up 1.71% on 51,065 points, the highest level since March 2000, with Unipol (+5,36%) and Bper (+4,22%) among the biggest gainers.
    Insurance giant Generali's share price climbed 1.2% to reach a record high of €40.38.
    Intesa Sanpaolo announced Monday that it was making a bid of close to €31 billion for Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) to form the eurozone's second-largest bank.
    At the weekend another Italian lender, Banco BPM, said it would invite MPS, which acquired merchant bank Mediobanca last year, to discuss a "merger of equals".
    Intesa added that it has reached an agreement with insurance group Unipol, the biggest shareholder in another bank, BPER Banca, to sell a "banking legal entity comprising the MPS brand" and around 635 MPS branches in order to avoid problems with the Antitrust authorities.
    It also said that its board has approved the acquisition of a 3.01% stake in Generali.

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