Apollo sole bidder so far for Italy's four rescued banks - sources

By Massimo Gaia

MILAN (Reuters) - U.S. fund Apollo Global Management (APO.N) is so far the sole bidder for four small Italian banks that were rescued from bankruptcy in November as a deadline to submit binding offers looms, several sources close to the matter said.

The deadline has been pushed by 12 hours to 1700 London time on Thursday for a sale that could present healthy Italian lenders with a costlier bill to foot than initially envisaged at a time when they wrestle with bad debts and thin profits.

Private equity firms Apax Partners and Lone Star were also looking at the four banks.

One source familiar with the matter said there should be more than one offer, but other sources said Apax was unlikely to bid while Lone Star was waiting until the very end to decide.

All involved parties declined to comment.

The November rescue of Banca Marche, Banca Etruria, CariChieti and CariFe drew 3.6 billion euros (£3 billion) from a deposit guarantee fund financed by Italian lenders.

Italy's banking association head Antonio Patuelli has said that banks will have to contribute further if the four rescued lenders are sold for less than 1.65 billion euros.

Italian banks are already struggling with problem loans that run at nearly one fifth of total lending after a deep recession at a time when negative interest rate eat into profits.

The value of the four banks was written down to 1.4 billion from 1.8 billion euros in April due to restructuring charges.

The sources said Apollo's offer was likely to be significantly below that figure as the banks are in need of further restructuring despite the fact that their bad loans were spun off in the rescue.

(Reporting by Massimo Gaia, writing by Valentina Za, editing by Francesca Landini)