General view of a branch of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), the oldest bank in the world, which is facing massive layoffs as part of a planned business merger, in Siena, Italy, August 11 2021. REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini
General view of a branch of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), the oldest bank in the world, which is facing massive layoffs as part of a planned business merger, in Siena, Italy, August 11 2021. REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini Reuters / JENNIFER LORENZINI

State-owned Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) on Thursday announced a 2.5 billion euro ($2.6 billion) cash call under new Chief Executive Luigi Lovaglio.

Here is a timeline of key events in the recent history of MPS, whose origins can be traced back to the 15th century.

NOVEMBER 2007 - MPS buys Antonveneta from Santander for 9 billion euros in cash, just months after the Spanish bank paid 6.6 billion euros for it.

JANUARY 2008 - MPS announces a 5 billion euros rights issue, a 950 million euro capital increase reserved to JPMorgan, a 2.16 billion euro Tier2 bond and a 1.56 billion euro bridge loan to fund the Antonveneta deal.

MARCH 2008 - The Bank of Italy, led by Mario Draghi, approves the Antonveneta takeover.

MARCH 2009 - MPS sells 1.9 billion euros in special bonds to Italy's Treasury to shore up its finances.

JULY 2011 - MPS raises 2.15 billion euros in a rights issue ahead of European stress test results.

SEPTEMBER 2011 - The Bank of Italy provides 6 billion euros in emergency liquidity to MPS as the euro zone sovereign crisis escalates.

MARCH 2012 - MPS posts a 4.7 billion euro 2011 loss after billions of goodwill writedowns on deals including Antonveneta.

MAY 2012 - MPS headquarters searched as prosecutors investigate whether it misled regulators over Antonveneta.

JUNE 2012 - MPS asks Italy's Treasury to underwrite up to another 2 billion euros in special bonds.

OCTOBER 2012 - Shareholders approve a 1 billion euro share issue targeting new investors.

MARCH 2013 - MPS loses 3.17 billion euros in 2012, hit by plunging Italian government bond prices.

JUNE 2014 - MPS raises 5 billion euros in a rights issue and repays the state 3.1 billion euros.

OCTOBER 2014 - MPS emerges as the worst performer in Europe-wide stress tests.

JUNE 2015 - MPS raises 3 billion euros in cash after a 5.3 billion euro net loss for 2014 on record bad loan writedowns. It repays the remaining 1.1 billion euro state underwritten special bond.

JULY 2016 - MPS announces a new 5 billion euro rights issue and plans to offload 28 billion euros in bad loans as European bank stress tests show it would have negative equity in a slump.

DECEMBER 2016 - MPS turns to the state for help under a precautionary recapitalisation scheme after its cash call fails.

JULY 2017 - After the ECB declares MPS solvent, the EU Commission clears an 8.2 billion euro bailout which hands the state a 68% stake at a cost of 5.4 billion.

OCTOBER 2019 - MPS completes Europe's biggest bad loan securitisation deal.

MAY 2020 - CEO Marco Morelli steps down and is replaced by 5-Star backed Guido Bastianini.

AUGUST 2020 - Italy sets aside 1.5 billion euros to help MPS as it works to meet an end-2021 re-privatisation deadline.

OCTOBER 2020 - A Milan court convicts MPS' former CEO and chairman for false accounting in a surprise decision that forces MPS to boost legal risk provisions.

FEBRUARY 2021 - MPS posts 1.69 billion euro loss for 2020 as it opens its books to potential buyers.

JULY 2021 - UniCredit enters exclusive talks to buy "selected parts" of MPS, a day before European banking stress test results show the latter's capital would be wiped out in a slump.

OCTOBER 2021 - Italy's talks with UniCredit collapse.

FEBRUARY 2022- Restructuring veteran Luigi Lovaglio named CEO.

MAY 2022 - Overthrowing a previous ruling, appeals court acquit all 13 defendants, as well as Deutsche Bank and Nomura, over derivative deals with MPS.

JUNE 2022 - MPS announces a 2.5 billion euro capital increase for end-October and secures a pre-underwriting accord with banks.

($1 = 0.9493 euros)