The Italian insurer Unipol aims to own more than 30% of a new banking entity formed by combining BPER Banca with assets carved out from Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS). Unipol has an agreement to acquire approximately 635 MPS branches and central functions from Intesa Sanpaolo, contingent on Intesa's successful takeover of MPS. Unipol plans to merge these operations with BPER, where it is already the largest shareholder. The payment for the MPS carve-out is capped at €3.5 billion ($4.04 billion), to be funded by Unipol's surplus capital generation and a planned €2.5 billion capital increase expected by year-end.