Banca Popolare Italiana is to sell over €1bn ($1.2bn) of assets to finance its cash and shares bid for Banca Antonveneta which Consob, the Italian regulator, approved last night.

Pop Italiana, formerly Banca Popolare di Lodi, said in its prospectus that it would sell minority stakes in the businesses it controls to unspecified financial institutions, to fund its €27.5 per share offer for Antonveneta.