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☆ Italy's deficit hikes could threaten its credit rating - Scope
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Sara Rossi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The eligibility of Italian securities under the ECB's TPI "is a key driver of its BBB+/Stable credit rating," Scope said. It will review its rating of Italy's debt on Dec. 1. More specifically, countries must respect the EU's economic prescriptions, have a sustainable public debt, and not show any macroeconomic imbalances. RATING AGENCIES' TESTBefore Scope assesses Italy's rating in December, the country faces scrutiny from several larger agencies. From mid-October to mid-November, S&P Global, DBRS, Fitch and Moody's all have the euro zone's third largest economy up for review in what analysts say will be key tests for the stability of Italian bond yields.

Persons: Giorgia, Christine Lagarde, DBRS, Fitch, Sara Rossi, Gavin Jones, Andrew Heavens Organizations: MILAN, Central, Reuters, ECB, P, Italian Treasury, European Union, TPI, European, Thomson Locations: Italy, Italian, Rome

☆ Meloni’s Italian job is a lesson for EU’s right
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

This is particularly true of Meloni’s surprise decision in August to tax what she called “unjust profits” by domestic banks. Ill-fated tax credits for building renovations introduced by a previous executive are expected to balloon to up to 150 billion euros, UniCredit analysts reckon. That’s 30 billion euros higher than what the current government predicted in April, or around 1.5% of GDP. That’s Meloni’s biggest Italian lesson for parties like Vox and AfD. CONTEXT NEWSThe Italian Treasury will present new economic targets on Sept. 28, which will be the framework for the country’s 2024 budget.

Persons: Spain’s, Benito Mussolini’s “, Rome ”, Ursula von der Leyen, Meloni, Vladimir Putin, –, Silvio Berlusconi, Matteo Salvini – Meloni, ”, Mario Draghi’s, it’s, Giancarlo Giorgetti, Liz Truss, Meloni’s, Vox, Giorgia Meloni, Francesco Guerrera, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, NATO, European Union, EU, Commission, Economy, Italian Treasury, Thomson Locations: Rome, Italy, Ukraine, Kyiv, China, Greece, Brussels, British, Italian

☆ Explainer: What's at stake in Telecom Italia grid deal?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TIM is selling NetCo, a venture comprising both TIM's domestic fixed-access network and international wholesale telecoms operator Sparkle. TIM's landline network covers nearly 89% of the country's households and its fibre cable stretches over 23 million kilometres across the country. Beyond TIM's grid, a second major network is being rolled out by Open Fiber, a company controlled by CDP and Australian investment group Macquarie. There had long been talks of trying to combine TIM's network with Open Fiber but competition concerns have hampered such a deal so far. With its 24% voting stake, Vivendi could throw a spanner in the works at any TIM shareholder meeting to vote on a deal or challenge it in the courts.

Persons: Yara, Pietro Labriola's, Giorgia, Elvira Pollina, Keith Weir, Anil D'Silva Organizations: REUTERS, KKR, Italian Treasury, Telecom Italia's, TIM, WHO, Vivendi, Treasury, Trade, Macquarie, Thomson Locations: Rome, Italy

☆ Eighty years on, Italian victims of Nazi crimes finally to get compensation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

A study funded by the German government and published in 2016 estimated that 22,000 Italians were victims of Nazi war crimes, including up to 8,000 Jews deported to death camps. However, it did not offer reparations for war crimes. "They didn't look at war crimes and this was a mistake. In 1994, a cupboard was found in the offices of Rome's military prosecutors packed with files documenting hundreds of war crimes that had never been prosecuted. In 2012, the International Court of Justice backed Berlin, but Italian courts continued to hear compensation cases, saying no limit could be imposed on war crimes.

Persons: Crispian Balmer, Mauro Petrarca, Domenico Lancellotta, Giulio Disegni, Lucio Olivieri, Petrarca, Mario Draghi, Disegni, Fornelli, Giovanni Tedeschi, Alison Williams Organizations: REUTERS, Nazis, International Court of Justice, Union of Italian Jewish, Allied, Rome, Nazi, Berlin, PRIDE, Italian Treasury, Reuters, Treasury, Thomson Locations: Fornelli, Molise, Italy, Germany, Berlin, Rome

☆ Analysis: Greek bonds snapping at heels of southern Europe's best in class
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Stefano Rebaudo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The country has received three international bailouts from the euro zone and the IMF worth 280 billion euros ($308 billion) since 2010. "The Greek (bond) market is not so liquid and tends to be more volatile, but we have a lot of good news. The Greek economy is still heavily exposed to volatile sectors like tourism or shipping, but it is less sensitive to manufacturing headwinds. The premium, or spread, of Greek government bond yields over those of Spain recently fell to its lowest since 2008 at around 27 basis points . Across southern Europe, only Portugal and Spain trade at a smaller premium to Germany - the euro zone benchmark - than Greece.

Persons: Athanasios, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Goldman Sachs, Filippo Taddei, Piet Haines Christiansen, Giorgia Meloni, Mario Draghi's, Christoph Rieger, Stefano Rebaudo, Sara Rossi, Amanda Cooper, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Bank of America, Democracy, Analysts, European Recovery Fund, Danske Bank, Italy's, ECB, Italian Treasury, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Greece, Spain, Europe, Portugal, Germany, European, Italy, Italian

☆ Rome Fiumicino seen as Lufthansa's new southern hub after ITA deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Shares in Lufthansa were down 0.2% on Friday, a day after the airline and the Italian Treasury announced the ITA deal. A report from TRA consulting firm says some 43 million people travelled through Rome Fiumicino in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak, and the airport has potential to become an even stronger hub for the Mediterranean area. His report said this is due to the weakness of the national airline, and the integration of ITA into the Lufthansa group might help Fiumicino become an hub for travellers heading to the Americas. Lufthansa, which already operates the brands Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines, said it would look to feed more passengers into Fiumicino airport. Analysts believe Lufthansa has good chances to boost Fiumicino, after fostering development of other airports it entered after its previous takeovers.

☆ Debt conundrum gives Italy weak hand in EU talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

After inflation hit 40-year highs in the West last year, global rate-setters, including the European Central Bank, launched a dramatic series of interest rate hikes. Unless there is a sudden series of interest rate cuts, the cost of servicing Italy’s debt could stay well above 4% of GDP for years. To fight that, Meloni’s government will have to shrink the public deficit and bring Italy back to the healthy pre-pandemic habit of keeping a primary budgetary surplus excluding debt interest payments. As long as Italy’s debt is not spiralling out of control, markets won’t worry too much. Yet even if Meloni chooses a milder approach, Italy’s unresolved debt challenge risks giving her a weak negotiating hand in Brussels.

Foreign holdings of Italian government paper increased in February after 10 consecutive monthly declines, according to Bank of Italy data. "This is a magic moment for Italian bonds," he told Reuters. The share of Italian government debt held by foreign investors fell to below 20% at the end of 2022 from around 50% before the 2008 financial crisis, Bank of Italy data shows. The Italian Treasury has already taken steps to shore up demand for its bonds as the ECB retreats, by boosting purchases among domestic households and companies. Together, Italian families and firms now hold around 215 billion euros, or 9%, of Rome's debt, UniCredit's Cazzulani said, the highest level since mid-2015.

☆ Italian corporate activism has a long way to go
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, May 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Fighting opaque governance at Italy’s state-backed companies is proving a tough nut to crack. That’s a victory for the Italian Treasury – the utility’s top investor with 23.6% – which managed to install oil and gas veteran Paolo Scaroni as chairman, along with other board members. The Italian state is in dire need of improving the way it picks its corporate representatives. But to confront Rome, investors will need to make a good case. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ World's longest bridge could transform Sicily. But not if the Mafia and earthquakes get in the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Since then, various plans, including a short-lived idea for a tunnel, have come and gone – like water under the bridge. If built, the bridge across the Straits of Messina would span two miles (3.2 kilometers) and would be the longest suspension bridge in the world. When Salvini became transport minister, he made it his priority, betting his legacy on the bridge. “The bridge over the Strait of Messina is a project that can break ground immediately. The recent arrest of Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro after 30 years on the lam in Sicily represented a victory.

☆ Monte dei Paschi investor CariFirenze doesn't plan to sell stake
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FLORENCE, Italy, March 3 (Reuters) - A local banking foundation that invested in Monte dei Paschi's (BMPS.MI) new share issue last year said on Friday it had no plans to sell the stake it built under efforts to make the lender part of a larger banking group. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of an event, the chairman of banking foundation CariFirenze, Luigi Salvadori, said the Monte dei Paschi (MPS) stake was not a purely financial investment but a strategic one "because we believe there is a need for another large banking group." CariFirenze was one of several banking foundations - traditionally investors in Italian lenders - that responded to an appeal by the Italian Treasury to back the make or break share sale. "We also liked CEO Luigi Lovaglio's plan," Salvadori said. Reporting by Silvia Ognibene, Wriring by Valentina Za; editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Italy, Lufthansa sign letter of intent over ITA minority stake sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Planes of German air carrier Lufthansa are parked as Lufthansa pilots start a strike over a wage dispute, at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany September 2, 2022. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File PhotoROME, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Italy's Treasury on Friday said it had signed a letter of intent with Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) over the sale of a minority stake in state-owned airline ITA Airways, paving the way for negotiations with German carrier. Last week, Lufthansa offered to buy a minority stake in the loss-making successor of Italy's Alitalia, saying Italy was a prominent market both for business travellers and tourists. Lufthansa said on Friday it had signed the letter of intent with the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance and ITA Airways. The new right-wing administration in Rome passed a decree in December to initially sell a minority stake through capital increases, to speed up a full divestment in ITA.

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-Planes of German air carrier Lufthansa are parked as Lufthansa pilots start a strike over a wage dispute, at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, September 2, 2022. REUTERS/Kai PfaffenbachROME/FRANKFURT, Jan 18 (Reuters) - German carrier Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said on Wednesday it had offered to buy an minority stake in ITA Airways, betting on reviving the loss-making successor to Italy's Alitalia and expanding its footprint in Europe. One of the sources said it was valued at 200-300 million euros ($540 million). The new right-wing administration in Rome passed a decree in December to initially sell a minority stake through capital increases, in order to speed up a full divestment in ITA. "Acquiring ITA is one of the most challenging propositions in European aviation: the airline has been persistently loss-making," said Bernstein analyst Alex Irving.

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-Planes of German air carrier Lufthansa are parked as Lufthansa pilots start a strike over a wage dispute, at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, September 2, 2022. REUTERS/Kai PfaffenbachBERLIN/ROME, Jan 18 (Reuters) - German carrier Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said on Wednesday it had offered to buy an initial minority stake in ITA Airways, Italy's state-owned successor to Alitalia. Lufthansa said Italy is the most important market outside of its existing home markets and the United States, noting its prominence as both a business and tourism destination. The move comes after the new right-wing administration in Rome passed a decree in December to initially sell a minority stake through capital increases, in order to speed up a full divestment in ITA. Beside its domestic German business, Lufthansa already operates the brands Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.

☆ Italy's goal is several big banking groups as it works to exit MPS - PM
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Italy will work to exit the capital of bailed-out lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) with a view to creating a banking landscape with several large groups, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday. Meloni said Monte dei Paschi had been "very badly handled" by previous governments leading to taxpayers spending billions of euros to prop up the Tuscan lender, whose restructuring however "appears rather solid." Italy owns 64% of Monte dei Paschi following a 2017 bailout that cost taxpayers 5.4 billion euros. Rome pumped another 1.6 billion euros into the bank as part of a 2.5 billion euro recapitalisation completed in November. In an interview on Thursday Banco BPM CEO Giuseppe Castagna said Monte dei Paschi was "too big a mouthful" for his bank to swallow.

One of the so-called policy "milestones" in Italy's pandemic Recovery Plan agreed with Brussels in return for around 200 billion euros ($208 billion) of EU funds was the introduction of sanctions for retailers who refuse to accept card payments. "The scheme is formally compliant with the EU-funded plan," Santoro said. The budget also raises a limit on cash payments to 5,000 euros from a previous limit of 1,000 euros from next year. Italy has so far obtained almost 67 billion euros of the roughly 200 billion euros of EU funds it is due through 2026. It is eligible for a further 19 billion euros at the end of this year provided it can complete the 55 targets and milestones set for the second half of 2022.

☆ Italy to press ahead with plans to sell ITA despite MSC snub
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Italy's government will press ahead with plans to sell a majority stake in airline ITA Airways, the successor to Alitalia, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Tuesday, after shipping group MSC dropped its interest. "We are open to anybody who wants to participate in the privatisation," Giorgetti told a news conference, adding ITA Airways's data room is "always open." Shipping group MSC, which had partnered with German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) earlier this year to bid for ITA, said on Monday it was no longer interested in the transaction. On the other hand, a Lufthansa spokesman said last week that the German carrier was still interested in buying into ITA. The Treasury plans to privatise ITA through a direct sale while retaining a minority, non-controlling stake in the initial stage.

Lukoil's ISAB refinery in Sicily stands to be hit by an embargo on seaborne Russian oil that comes into force on Dec. 5, putting at risk jobs in Italy's poorer south and the country's refining capacity. Although Lukoil is not affected by the sanctions, the ISAB plant has been forced to rely solely on Russian oil after creditor banks halted financing and stopped providing guarantees the refinery needs to buy oil from alternative suppliers. The sources said the government was trying to find ways to ensure the plant can receive financing from lenders and remain operational. The goal is to allow ISAB to buy elsewhere the oil it needs, two of the sources said. A sale to non-Russian buyers would avert the closure of the ISAB plant, which accounts for around 20% of Italian refining capacity and directly employs some 1,000 workers.

The entrance to the headquarters of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), the oldest bank in the world, in Siena, Italy, August 11, 2021. Rome failed to meet an initial EU deadline when talks to sell MPS to UniCredit (CRDI.MI) collapsed a year ago. One of the sources said UniCredit and Banco BPM are still seen in Rome as the best options for MPS. Investor commitments cover more than half of the up to 900 million euro portion of MPS's share sale that will not be funded by the state. Five years after spending 5.4 billion euros to rescue MPS Italy is having to pump another 1.6 billion euros into the bank.

☆ Market reaction to Italy election outcome
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Leader of Brothers of Italy Giorgia Meloni reacts at the party's election night headquarters, in Rome, Italy September 26, 2022. It last traded at 234 basis points. "Today's upward movement is a continuation of the market reaction seen on Friday after Britain's mini-budget and sounds like a warning to the eurozone countries as well." LUCA CAZZULANI, HEAD OF STRATEGY RESEARCH; LOREDANA MARIA FEDERICO, CHIEF ITALIAN ECONOMIST, UNICREDIT"We expect a rather muted market reaction in terms of BTPs credit spread in the short term, as the election outcome was broadly in line with expectations." We continue to expect the 10-year BTP-Bund spread to trade close to 250 basis points until year end."

Fabio Panetta, director of international and European relations at the European Central Bank, attends the award ceremony for the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, January 31, 2020. REUTERS/Annegret HilseROME, Sept 20 (Reuters) - ECB board member Fabio Panetta is resisting calls from Giorgia Meloni, the front-runner to be Italy's next prime minister, to take the job of economy minister should the rightist bloc win election on Sunday, two political sources told Reuters. Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy party, wants Panetta to replace Daniele Franco at the helm of the Italian Treasury, but Panetta has made it clear he is not interested in the role, the sources said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterPanetta, 63, is a veteran of more than three decades at Italy's central bank and has sat on the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) since the start of 2020. A third, separate source close to the matter confirmed Panetta was the leading candidate to replace Visco.

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