Italy Joins Greece Selling Bank Stock to Once-Wary Investors
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Italian banks are preparing to sell at least 8 billion euros ($11 billion) of stock to shore up their balance sheets, as nations shunned during the sovereign-debt crisis return to favor with investors.
Leading the pack is Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, the world’s oldest bank and Italy’s third-largest by assets, which plans to seek 3 billion euros as early as May. Two of the biggest banks in Greece, which needed an international bailout, tapped stock investors for 2.95 billion euros this week.