Del Vecchio comes out agst UniCredit (2)

(ANSA) - Milan, October 24 - Key UniCredit shareholder Leonardo Del Vecchio on Monday came out against a capital hike by Italy's biggest bank. "I don't know if it's necessary. What use is capital for banks today? I don't think they need capital, it's a current mania, doing capital hikes," said the eyewear giant Luxottica founder and chairman, who has 2% of UniCredit - a strategically important share under Italy's complex system of cross-shareholdings. Del Vecchio, 81, added that the once-central role of Milanese merchant bank Mediobanca to that system had been superseded. "I don't think that 'drawing rooms' are needed much any more," he said, referring to Mediobanca's old nickname as the 'good drawing room' of Italian finance.