Reuters: Bankruptcy News: UPDATE 1-Italian court declares Ligresti holdings bankrupt

Reuters: Bankruptcy News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-Italian court declares Ligresti holdings bankrupt Jun 14th 2012, 16:37 Thu Jun 14, 2012 12:37pm EDT * Rules the Sinergia and Imco holdings bankrupt * Sinergia and Imco own 20 pct of Fondiaria parent Premafin * Move will not affect Unipol-Fondiaria merger -UniCredit (Recasts lead, adds UniCredit, Unipol quotes) MILAN, June 14 (Reuters) - Two holding companies of the embattled Ligresti family, which controls Italy's second-biggest insurer Fondiaria-SAI, were declared bankrupt on Thursday, muddying the waters of a plan by insurer Unipol to save its troubled peer. A Milan court declared bankruptcy on the Sinergia and Imco holdings of the Ligrestis, rejecting a request from the firms' lawyers for more time to draw up a proper debt restructuring. The holdings had been placed under investigation by Milan prosecutors at the end of April, as part of a broader probe involving Ligresti patriarch Salvatore over alleged market rigging. Sinergia and Imco each own around 10 percent of Premafin , the Ligresti-controlled holding company that owns more than 35 percent of Fondiaria. Unipol has agreed to rescue loss-making Fondiaria in a four-way merger, alongside a series of capital increases, to beef up its depleted capital base. Bickering between Unipol and the Ligrestis has heightened concern that insurance regulator ISVAP could place Fondiaria under special administration. On Thursday, UniCredit Chief Executive Federico Ghizzoni said the future of Sinergia and Imco will have no impact on the planned merger between Unipol and Fondiaria. UniCredit, which owns more than 6 percent of Fondiaria, is one of Premafin's main creditor banks. It has said any restructuring of Premafin debt is conditional on the Unipol deal going through. Unipol's rescue of Fondiaria is still awaiting clearance from insurance regulator ISVAP, market regulator Consob and the competition watchdog. (Reporting by Sara Rossi and Stephen Jewkes; Additional reporting by Andrea Mandala; Editing by David Hulmes) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions