On December 9th, Glonghui reported that a spokesperson for UniCredit stated on a LinkedIn post that UniCredit is prepared to negotiate with Credit Agricole, which disclosed last Friday that its stake in Banco BPM will increase from 9.9% to 15%. Sources say that Credit Agricole's focus is on protecting its partnerships that allow it to sell products in Italy. As the largest Shareholder of BPM, Credit Agricole has ruled out the possibility of a full acquisition of BPM. Last month, UniCredit proposed to acquire Banco BPM in an all-stock deal valued at 10 billion euros, thus securing a position in the consolidation of Italian Banks.