A hedge fund manager owned by UBS and which holds a stake in HVB Group is reported to be pushing Italy's UniCredito to increase its €15.4bn ($18.6bn) agreed offer for the German bank.

John Bennett, a fund manager at GAM, a hedge funds business owned by UBS but which operates as an independent entity, told German daily Handelsblatt that the fund would not sell its shares under the terms of the current offer.