Generali, BPCE Cancel Investment Unit Deal Amid Rome Resistance

Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA and French lender BPCE SA canceled plans to combine their asset management units after running into headwinds from Italy.

“Although the work carried out together over the past few months has confirmed the benefits and industrial value of the partnership, Generali and BPCE have jointly decided to end their negotiations,” BPCE said in a statement on Thursday, referring to the deal.

The transaction would have created Europe’s second-largest asset manager by merging BPCE’s investment unit Natixis Investment Managers with Generali Investments Holding into a business valued at about €9.5 billion ($11.2 billion).

But the plan, ...