Italy court accepts Hitachi request in Ansaldo STS bid: sources

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian court has accepted a request by Hitachi to suspend a decision by market watchdog Consob calling on it to raise the price of its mandatory bid on Ansaldo STS, three legal sources said.

The sources said the court had also thrown out a request by shareholder Amber to have the bid process suspended.

Hitachi launched a 9.5 euro ($10.53) per share mandatory public offer to buy out Ansaldo STS minority shareholders on Jan. 4 after buying a 40 percent stake in the Italian rail signaling company from Finmeccanica last year at the same price.

But earlier this month Consob forced Hitachi to raise its bid to 9.899 euros per share.

Both Hitachi and Amber appealed the decision.

(Reporting by Massimiliano Di Giorgio, writing by Stephen Jewkes, editing by Isla Binnie)