Banca Carige SpA, the Italian lender working on a new business plan to meet demands of European regulators, ruled out said raising additional capital to shore up its finances, denying a report published by la Repubblica.
Suggestions that the lender is considering raising as much as 400 million euros ($445 million) as part of its business plan are groundless, the Genoa, Italy-based bank said Saturday in a statement.
La Repubblica said Carige was considering raising capital as part of the plan that the bank will submit to the European Central Bank on Tuesday, without citing anyone for the information.
The ECB, which is seeking to reduce the bank’s risks, instructed Carige in March to submit a new funding plan and a strategic review to restore compliance with supervisory requirements.
The bank has struggled to strengthen its balance sheet and restore investor confidence after it was forced to plug a capital deficit detected during the ECB’s industry heath check by selling 850 million euros in stock in 2015.
“The Carige business plan that will be submitted to the board of directors for approval on May 30 includes many initiatives aimed at rebalancing the bank’s management,” Chief Executive Officer Guido Bastianini said in the statement. “It doesn’t include any reference to a capital increase, which is not being considered at all.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simone Meier at smeier@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Ros Krasny
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