Italian Suitor Drops Offer for N.Y.’s Irving Bank

Banca Commerciale Italiana on Monday withdrew its friendly takeover offer for Irving Bank Corp. of New York, leaving no other suitors for the company other than the previously rejected Bank of New York Co.

Irving said in response that it will seek alternative buyers and pointedly excluded Bank of New York.

“I intend to recommend to the Irving board of directors that Irving undertake immediately an intensive effort to replace the BCI transaction with another that is superior to the current BNY bid,” Irving Chairman Joseph Rice said in a statement.

Irving had accepted a bid from the Italian bank group to avoid the grasp of Bank of New York, which has been trying to take it over for 11 months.