Italy not tied to any deadline to exit Monte Paschi, Finance Minister says

MARRAKECH (Reuters) -Italy will exit bailed-out bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) when market conditions are appropriate as it is not tied to any deadline, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Friday.

Commitments agreed with European Union authorities at the time of MPS's 5.4-billion-euro ($5.68 billion) bailout in 2017 bind Rome to eventually selling its 64% stake in the bank.

After a failed attempt to sell the bank to UniCredit in 2021, Italy agreed with Brussels new privatisation terms that were never fully disclosed.

"We will exit when it is opportune to exit, while also realising the goal of fixing the Italian banking structure and when market conditions seem appropriate," Giorgetti said, speaking on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Marrakech.

"There is no date on which we depend," he added without providing further details.

Both Giorgetti and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have said that the government would try to boost competition among banks with the privatisation of MPS.

This raises the prospect of a potential deal with Banco BPM or BPER Banca, Italy's third and fourth largest banks respectively, although both have repeatedly said they are not interested in MPS.

The Treasury will pick financial and legal advisers within the next two weeks at the latest for advice on the best way to cut its controlling stake in MPS, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Among its options, the government is open to offering share sales on the market, a move that would not hinder the search for strategic partners.

MPS's privatisation is part of a wider 21 billion euro sell-off plan announced by Meloni to keep in check the euro zone's second-largest debt pile as a proportion of gross domestic output (GDP).

($1 = 0.9499 euros)

(Reporting by Elisa Martinuzzi, writing by Giuseppe Fonte, editing by Jane Merriman and Gavin Jones)