Police on Wednesday searched the
Rome offices of Finmeccanica aerospace and defence giant early
on Wednesday as part of a Milan prosecution probe into Japanese
group Hitachi's contentious takeover of its subsidiary, Italian
railway signalling company Ansaldo STS.
Police also searched the Naples office of Hitachi Italia
and the Genoa office of Ansaldo STS.
In recent days, the Hitachi group closed a complicated
takeover of Ansaldo STS, which ANSA sources say is the basis for
the Milan prosecutors' probe.
Italian market regulator CONSOB and the Lazio regional
administrative court (TAR) both became involved in the deal
after CONSOB determined that the initial share price set by
Hitachi for Ansaldo shares was too low.
Only 6.4% of minority shareholders took up Hitachi's
mandatory tender offer. Hitachi now has a 46.5% stake in the
group after acquiring just over 40% from Italian aerospace and
defense giant Finmeccanica last year.
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