(Alliance News) - Banking foundations are interested in investing in Poste Italiane Spa but cannot alone cover the entire 14 percent of the company that the government wanted to sell to get about EUR2.5 billion. Not even with the support of professional pension institutions, such as doctors and lawyers, could they get a significant share of that 14 percent, half of which would go to institutional investors.

As La Repubblica points out on Friday, the operation, initiated by Mef Director General Marcello Sala, envisioned a classic market sale with the involvement of large institutional investors, but Premier Giorgia Meloni blocked everything, declaring that Poste must remain in Italian hands, targeting small savers.

Faced with this scenario, contacts between Poste and the Foundations are back current, although the path to sell the 14 percent has become more difficult.

Foundations, attracted by an estimated annual return of around 7 percent, see the investment as a good opportunity to diversify their portfolios. Large foundations such as Cariplo and those in Florence, Ravenna, and Cuneo have expressed willingness while others, such as Compagnia di San Paolo, may participate in the future.

However, their total contribution would not exceed a few hundred million euros, far from the EUR2.5 billion requested.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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