Italy's Generali buys 3 percent of Intesa in defensive move

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest insurer Assicurazioni Generali said on Monday it had bought voting rights equal to 3.01 percent of Intesa Sanpaolo's share capital, effectively blocking the lender from acquiring a large stake in itself. According to Italy's cross-shareholding regulations, a company cannot hold more than 3 percent of another entity's voting rights if the latter already has a stake of more than 3 percent in the former one. Generali's biggest shareholder is Intesa's domestic rival investment bank Mediobanca . The move comes after La Stampa daily reported over the weekend that Intesa was studying a possible investment in Generali which could be part of an accord with Germany's Allianz . (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; editing by Silvia Aloisi)