UniCredit SpA has hired Deloitte LLP to advise Italy’s second-biggest bank on its takeover bid for Banco BPM SpA, people familiar with the matter said.

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UniCredit's bid for BPM also throws a spanner in the works for Italy's government, which had advanced plans for a merger of BPM with rival Monte dei Paschi di Siena which it saw as strengthening its banking sector without harming competition.