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preCharge News BUSINESS — Italian lender Mediobanca on Monday made a public 6.3 billion euro ($7.17 billion) offer to buy domestic peer Banca Generali as it seeks to boost its wealth management operations.

Mediobanca, itself the takeover target of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena amid a broader wave of attempted consolidation among Italian lenders, seeks to pay for the purchase by swapping its shares of Italian insurer Assicurazione Generali, the parent of Banca Generali with a 50.17% holding.

The proposal sets an exchange ratio of 1.7 Assicurazioni Generali shares, ex-dividend, for each Banca Generali share, based on the prices of April 25. The bid implies an offer price of 54.17 euro per share, or a roughly 11% premium from Mediobanca’s latest close.

The deal, which would generate 300 million euros in synergies, will create “a market leader, ranking second in Italy by assets (TFAs of €210bn) and distribution network (approx. 3,700 professionals),” Mediobanca said.

Typically a rarity in the languishing European banking sector, hostile takeovers have taken Italy’s lenders by storm, with UniCredit, Monte dei Paschi and now Mediobanca launching consolidation offers domestically and abroad since the second half of last year.

It comes as European banks struggle to keep pace with their transatlantic peers, with analysts pointing to mergers as a potential avenue to gain footing.

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Associated Press, CNBC News, Fox News, and preCharge News contributed to this report.