Italy - Factors to watch on October 26

Intesa Sanpaolo

Yesterday 05:00

The following factors could affect Italian markets on Monday.

        Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

POLITICS
Matteo Salvini shrugged off declining poll ratings on Sunday to be reelected leader of his far-right League party, part of Italy's ruling coalition, having vowed to press the government to stop financial support for Ukraine.
     
ECONOMY
Scope Ratings on Friday affirmed Italy's credit rating at  'BBB+' with a positive outlook and said that expectations of continued fiscal discipline and greater economic resilience support Italy's positive outlook. It added that high public debt, weak growth potential and adverse demographics remain key rating constraints for Italy.
Italy's cabinet meets on Tuesday to approve the country's 2027-2029 budget law, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Sunday. 

ENERGY SECTOR
Italy may increase taxation of energy companies to fund tax cuts and spending hikes in the government's budget for 2027-2029 to be presented next week, people close to the matter told Reuters.

DEBT
Italy Treasury said on Friday it would sell 4.5 bln euros in BOT bills at auction on Oct 28.
Treasury announces details of Thursday's medium- to long-term bond auction.
Italy attracted healthy demand for its new dual-tranche 'BTP Valore' bond dedicated to retail investors, Italian Bourse figures showed on Friday, at the end of a five-day placement, as Rome tries to increase private Italians' holdings of the country's debt.

COMPANIES
ENI ENI.MI 
The Italian energy group will extend its fuel price cap until the end of the year, Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi said on Friday, adding that the level of the cap will depend on market conditions.
Eni is expected to sign contracts worth up to $1.8 billion for the construction of drilling infrastructure and pipelines at its gas project offshore Cyprus in the coming days, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The group could take a final investment decision by year-end on the first phase of a Venezuelan oil project that it expects will eventually produce up to 1 million barrels per day (bpd), executives said on Friday.

MONTE DEI PASCHI BMPS.MI, INTESA SANPAOLO ISP.MI, ASSICURAZIONI GENERALI GASI.MI
(*) Intesa expects Italy’s antitrust authority to rule on its takeover bid for Monte dei Paschi in the second half of November, Corriere Economia weekly said on Monday, adding the bank deemed it prudent to wait until after that decision before kicking off the tender period.
Saverio Valentino, the head of Italy's antitrust watchdog which needs to clear Intesa Sanpaolo's takeover bid for MPS, was quoted as saying by several newspapers on Saturday that the authority may need to impose some remedies to ensure that the indirect stake Intesa would acquire in Generali following its bid for the Tuscan lender remains "a purely financial investment."    
Norges Bank Investment Management, Norway's sovereign wealth fund manager, will vote against Monte dei Paschi's proposed bids for Banco BPM BAMI.MI and Banca Generali BGN.MI, it said on Saturday, in the latest blow to the Tuscan bank's defence strategy against a takeover by Intesa Sanpaolo.
Fondazione MPS, a 0.2% investor in MPS, on Friday decided to back CEO Lovaglio's defence plan, despite earlier comments by its chair in favour of Intesa, several newspapers reported on Saturday. The foundation will consider proposals by third parties for MPS only if the October 29 shareholder vote sinks the CEO's strategy.
The European Central Bank is expected to rule over Intesa's proposed bid for MPS this week, various newspapers said at the weekend.    
          
(*) PRYSMIAN PRY.MI
Citigroup resumed its coverage of the cablemaker with a 'buy' rating and a €136 target price
           
SOCIETA EDITORIALE IL FATTO SEIFT.MI
The publisher of Italian daily Il Fatto said its founding members told the company on Sunday they would not be interested in selling their majority stake were LMDV Media, a company owned by late Italian billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio's son Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, to promote a bid following the due diligence phase it announced on Sunday.
        
RECORDATI RECI.MI 
CVC CVC.AS and Belgian investment firm GBL GBLB.BR, which this month raised their bid for Italian pharmaceutical group to €53 a share, had secured a 74.58% stake in the firm by the end of the offer period, the drugmaker said late on Friday.

BANKS 
The Bank of Italy said on Friday it had identified six Italian banks as 'Other Systemically Important Institutions' (O-SIIS) for 2027: UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena, Banco BPM, BPER Banca, and unlisted cooperative banking group ICCREA.
     
UNIPOL UNPI.MI
The insurer's €2.5 billion capital increase ends on Monday. It is aimed at financing the acquisition of branches from MPS should Intesa's bid for the Siena-based bank succeed.
        
TREVI TFI.MI, ICOP ICOP.MI, WEBUILD WBD.MI
ICOP said on Friday it had further lowered the minimum acceptance threshold required for its all-share offer for Trevi, reducing it to 51% of voting rights from 55%.
Trevi is also the target of a competing takeover offer from Webuild.
     
PININFARINA PNNI.MI
The takeover offer launched by PF Holdings, owned by India's Tech Mahindra TEML.NS and Mahindra & Mahindra MAHM.NS, for the Italian design group starts on Monday.
Pininfarina said on Friday that its board had deemed the offer price fair. 

(*) AVIO AVI.MI
Berenberg on Monday raised its rating on the rocket maker to 'buy' from 'hold' and the target price to €39 from €33.

THE ITALIAN SEA GROUP TISGR.MI
Investment company Sri Global has submitted a binding offer for all assets of the troubled yacht maker, backed by a €260 million investment plan to support expansion in Italy through partnerships and acquisitions and in the Americas through industrial deals, CEO Giulio Gallazzi was quoted as saying by Il Sole 24 Ore on Saturday.  

(*) IVECO IVG.MI 
The takeover offer for the truck maker, launched by India's Tata Motors TAMO.NS in early September, ends on Monday.
        
SS LAZIO LAZI.MI
Lazio climbed to the top of the Serie A table with a 2-1 home win over Parma on Saturday as AS Roma twice came from behind to secure a 3-3 draw with Napoli in a pulsating Serie A clash in Naples.

JUVENTUS JUVE.MI
Inter Milan kept pace with Lazio at the top of Serie A after scoring twice in stoppage time to earn a 2–1 home win over Fiorentina on Sunday, while injury-hit Juventus halted their recent slump with a 2–0 victory at Lecce.

    
For Italian market data and news, click on codes in
brackets:
20 biggest gainers (in percentage).............PG.MI
20 biggest losers (in percentage)..............PL.MI
FTSE IT allshare index .FTITLMS
FTSE Mib index........ .FTMIB
FTSE Allstars index... .FTSTAR
FTSE Mid Cap index.... .FTITMC
Stories on Italy...... IT-LEN

For pan-European market data and news, click on codes in
brackets:
European Equities speed guide...................EUR/EQUITY
FTSEurofirst 300 index...............................FTEU3
DJ STOXX index.......................................STOXX
Top 10 STOXX sectors............................PGL.STOXXS
Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors.......................PGL.STOXXES
Top 10 Eurofirst 300 sectors....................PGL.FTEU3S
Top 25 European pct gainers........................PG.PEUR
Top 25 European pct losers.........................PL.PEUR

Main stock markets:
Dow Jones................DJI Wall Street report ......N
Nikkei 225..............N225 Tokyo report.............T
FTSE 100................FTSE London report............L
Xetra DAX..............GDAXI Frankfurt market stories.F
CAC-40..................FCHI Paris market stories....PA
World Indices.....................................0#.INDEX
Reuters survey of world bourse outlook.........EQUITYPOLL1
Western European IPO diary..........................WEUIPO
European Asset Allocation........................EUR/ASSET
Reuters News at a Glance: Equities...............TOP/EQE
Main currency report:...............................FRX/