MILANO: Creval's second-biggest investor DGFD on Monday asked that Credit Agricole raise the price of its takeover offer for the Italian bank, saying it did not reflect the lender's fair value.

The Italian arm of Credit Agricole in November said it would spend 737 million euros ($868 million), or 10.5 euros per share, on Creval to expand its presence in Italy's consolidating banking sector, its biggest market outside France.

DGFD, a investment vehicle owned by French businessman Denis Dumont, said in an emailed statement that it was not against M&A deals and acknowledged the "seriousness and quality of the current offerer", but it was also ready to support Creval's independence should the bid not succeed.

DGFD, which owns around 6% of the Italian bank, joins a number of other Creval shareholders who already rejected the offer as too low.

Creval itself said last month the offer was a good strategic move, but the price should be at least 23% higher.

The bid started on March 30 but with the stock trading well above the offer price hardly any of the company's capital has been tendered so far.

Creval shares were up 0.7% at 12.29 euros by 1136 GMT.