MILAN, May 3 (Reuters) – Telecom Italia has asked
state financing body CDP to buy a stake in its fixed-line
network, a source with knowledge of the deal said, in a move
that could smooth a tie-up between the Italian firm and Hong
Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa.

The source said Telecom Italia had sent CDP a draft proposal
suggesting it purchase a stake in a yet-to-be-created new
network company via the Fondo Strategico Italiano (FSI), a fund
controlled by the CDP.

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy has raised its debt issuance target for this year by nearly 10 percent and is hoping to tap demand from Asian investors to meet the goal, its head of debt management told Reuters on Tuesday.

In an interview, Maria Cannata said the treasury has lifted its gross funding target for 2013 to just over 450 billion euros ($589 billion) from a previous estimate of 415 billion euros.

MILAN, April 4 (Reuters) – Italy will hike its planned
target for government bond issuance in 2013 and 2014 to pay off
a portion of outstanding state debts to the private sector, a
senior treasury source told Reuters.

The caretaker government of Mario Monti said last month it
wanted to pay 20 billion euros ($26 billion) of state debts to
companies this year and the same amount in 2014 to provide vital
liquidity to cash-strapped companies fighting a deep recession.

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy could issue its first 30-year benchmark bond in more than three years in 2013 after successfully selling a new 15-year bond this week, the head of the Debt Management Office told Reuters on Wednesday.

Rome, which has 2 trillion euros of public debt to refinance, shied away from selling longer-dated paper during the worst of the euro zone debt crisis, which pushed yields on its bonds and its borrowing costs higher across the curve.

MILAN, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Italy could issue its first
30-year benchmark bond in more than three years in 2013 after
successfully selling a new 15-year bond this week, the head of
the Debt Management Office told Reuters on Wednesday.

Rome, which has 2 trillion euros of public debt to
refinance, shied away from selling longer-dated paper during the
worst of the euro zone debt crisis, which pushed yields on its
bonds and its borrowing costs higher across the curve.

MILAN (Reuters) – A deeper-than-expected recession will force Italy to sell more bonds and bills this year than planned, a senior Treasury official said, presenting an even steeper funding challenge for the world’s fourth-biggest debtor.

In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Treasury Debt Management Office head Maria Cannata said Italy has upped its gross funding target for 2012 to 460-465 billion euros from a previous forecast of 440-450 billion euros.

MILAN (Reuters) – The average lifespan of Italian debt, which has fallen during the euro zone crisis as investors favor safer short-term issues, should still be close to the current level of 6.8 years at the end of 2012, a top Italian debt official said.

As the average maturity of a country’s debts falls, the amount of bonds it has to sell each year rises. This makes it more exposed to a worsening in market sentiment that could push borrowing costs higher, even to unaffordable levels.

MILAN, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Italian family owned Gavio
group is close to reaching an asset swap deal with motorway
company Atlantia that will make it the largest
shareholder in Italy’s leading builder Impregilo, five
sources close to the situation told Reuters on Thursday.

Under the deal, Atlantia will swap its entire stake in the
IGLI vehicle that controls Impregilo and the Turin-Savona toll
road with half of Gavio’s stake in Chilean motorway Autopista do
Pacifico, they said.

ROME/MILAN (Reuters) – More than a dozen Italian banks, including top lenders UniCredit (CRDI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) and Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), tapped 116 billion euros (91.5 billion pounds) of new three-year loans offered by the European Central Bank, nearly a quarter of the total, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The ECB’s first ever offer of three-year loans on Wednesday drew demand for a massive 489 billion euros from 523 banks, raising hopes a credit crunch can be avoided and that the money could be used to buy Italian and Spanish bonds.

ROME/MILAN (Reuters) – More than a dozen Italian banks, including top lenders UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, tapped 116 billion euros ($143.52 billion) of new three-year loans offered by the European Central Bank, nearly a quarter of the total, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The ECB’s first ever offer of three-year loans on Wednesday drew demand for a massive 489 billion euros from 523 banks, raising hopes a credit crunch can be avoided and that the money could be used to buy Italian and Spanish bonds.