Fiat ups Montedison bid

July 17, 2001 Posted: 0830 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Shares in Italy's Montedison rose in early trading Tuesday after the Fiat-led Italenergia consortium raised its offer to buy the agro-energy group.

Italenergia, a holding company led by Fiat and Electricite de France, said in a statement: "Taking into account market signals... Italenergia has decided to raise its respective offer to 3.07 per ordinary Montedison share."

The latest offer values Montedison, which is opposed to the hostile bid, at more than 5.6 billion ($4.8 billion).  

The Italy-based consortium's original offer was 2.82. The offer, an increase of 8.8 percent on its previous bid, came hours before Italian market regulator Consob is due on Tuesday to rule whether the bid is valid.

Shares in the Italian energy group have largely traded about three euros since the announcement of the 2.82 bid two weeks ago.

In early trading on Milan's MIB30 index Tuesday, Montedison shares were up 2.2 percent at 3.17. Fiat was down just over 1 percent at 24.32.

Regulator Consob and Italenergia held discussions on Monday over Montedison's objections to the 5 billion offer.

A source close to Montedison said that if Consob authorizes the improved bid, Montedison reserves the right to take Consob to court due to what it regards as unfair treatment in the evaluation of the offer, Reuters reported.

The energy group has hired Goldman Sachs to help it defend itself.

Mediobanca, the Italian merchant bank that had been Montedison's controlling shareholder before the battle, is now seeking ways to retain its own independence which has come under threat over the offer after some of its key shareholders joined forces with Italenergia.

Montedison's main holdings are in electricity companies, including Italy's Edison – the country's largest private power producer, food and insurance.

The company showed earnings of 260 million and revenue of 14 billion last year.

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