Generali, BPCE Abandon Asset Management Tie-Up

05:49 AM EST, 12/12/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali (G.MI) and French lender BPCE canceled their plan to combine their asset management businesses and form a new joint venture, citing failure to meet the prerequisites for a final deal. "While the work conducted together in recent months confirmed the merits and industrial value of a partnership, Generali and BPCE have jointly taken the decision to terminate negotiations... concluding that the conditions to reach a final agreement are not currently present," the companies said in a joint statement published Thursday, without elaborating on the circumstances surrounding the termination. Early signs of the deal's collapse appeared in October, when Reuters sources claimed the companies were "likely" to walk away from the talks. The news outlet reported that the Italian government and two significant Generali investors, namely, the Del Vecchio family's Delfin holding company and construction magnate Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, were against the joint entity amid concerns that Generali might surrender full authority over the allocation of Italian citizens' savings. Generali and BPCE signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in January 2025 to merge their asset management units, Generali Investment Holding and Natixis Investment Managers, with the combination's completion initially anticipated for early 2026. The equally owned joint entity aimed to be a leader in European asset management, forecasted to generate 4.1 billion euros in revenue. Meanwhile, with estimated assets under management of 1.9 trillion euros, the combined company was expected to rank as the ninth-largest asset manager worldwide. Generali was marginally down by Friday midday trading.