CDP Not Interested in Defending Italian Ownership - FT

MILAN--The head of state financing agency Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, or CDP, said he isn't interested in defending Italian ownership of companies in certain sectors of the country's economy, even though CDP has a separate fund that invests in those deemed to be of national interest, the Financial Times reports Tuesday.

"I'm not interested in pursuing the defence of Italian ownership per se," Chief Executive Giovanni Gorno Tempini is quoted as saying, in an interview with the newspaper.

"That doesn't make sense. Companies and shareholder bases need to be evaluated on each specific case. There can be good foreign shareholders and bad Italian shareholders," he says.

CDP's fund, Fondo Strategico Italiano, or FSI, has formed a consortium to make a bid for Ansaldo Energia, an engineering services provider for the energy sector that is being sold by Finmeccanica SpA (FNC.MI), Italy's defense and aerospace group.

The bid would rival one being considered by Germany's Siemens AG (SIE.XE).

FSI is also preparing to buy Finmeccanica's minority stake in Avio, a rocket propulsion systems maker whose private equity owner is considering listing on the Milan exchange while fielding expressions of interest from a variety of investors.

Newspaper website: www.ft.com

Write to Gilles Castonguay at [e-mail]; Twitter: @GRCastonguay

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