Mediobanca is Italy's pivotal investment bank, based in Milan. It was once at the centre of a web of cross-shareholdings which controlled much of Italian finance. Its activities include consumer credit, investment banking, wealth management and insurance (through a 13% stake in Assicurazioni Generali, Europe's third-largest insurer by premiums written). Its boss is Alberto Nagel.
Mediobanca offered €6.3bn for Banca Generali, a wealth manager half-owned by Generali. The acquisition would, Mediobanca estimates, yield €300m in synergies and shift the firm's weight towards wealth management, which would provide around half of the combined entity's turnover.
Mediobanca was itself acquired by Monte dei Paschi di Siena through a successful €16bn bid. That offer was backed by Francesco Milleri (who runs Delfin, the Del Vecchio family investment fund) and Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, both significant shareholders in Generali and critics of its management.
Don't let your mind wander -- it's too little to be let out alone.