Monte Paschi top investor still to decide on cap hike
MILAN (Reuters) - Monte dei Paschi di Siena's largest investor said on Wednesday it had not yet decided on whether to back a 3-billion- euro (2.49 billion pounds) capital increase the Italian lender is planning to carry out in January.
Monte dei Paschi shareholders are due to meet on December 27 to vote on the cash call needed to repay state aid.
In a statement the investor, a charitable banking foundation, also said it had not started to sell down its 33.5 percent stake in bank Monte dei Paschi, whose shares had fallen 8 percent amid press speculation of an imminent sale.
The heavily indebted foundation also said it had sold its remaining stake in the so-called FRESH hybrid instrument, netting a capital gain of 95.2 million euros against a nominal value of 490 million euros.
The FRESH, initially worth around 1 billion euros, was issued in 2008 to partly fund the acquisition of smaller bank Antonveneta.
(Reporting by Lisa Jucca; editing by Francesca Landini)
