Shares in troubled Tuscan
lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) surged almost 7% on the
Milan bourse Thursday amid rumours American global investment
management corporation BlackRock may take a stake in Italy's
third-biggest and the world's oldest bank.
Also powering the rise, analysts said, were expectations
stemming from the upcoming business plan, to be unveiled on
Monday.
MPS shares have been rising, for the first time since
August, after its board on Tuesday night confirmed plans to go
ahead with a turnaround plan while also leaving the door open to
a privately funded rescue led by former industry minister and
former banking industry executive Corrado Passera.
Currently the troubled lender has a market capitalisation
of 622 million euros, against 490 million on October 6 when its
shares touched lows of 0.17 eurocents a share.
The Passera plan was first rejected in July.
It would be an alternative to MPS's current, European
Central Bank-approved turnaround plan involving a
five-billion-euro capital increase and the securitization of 10
billion euros' worth of non-performing loans (NPLs) with help
from Italy's private Atlante fund.
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