Record Lows: Trading Session and State Bailout

record lows: Italy's political class should be very alarmed if MPS needs state bailout Read more Shares in the bank, Italy's third largest, gyrated wildly in Wednesday's trading session, plunging 18% to record lows before closing 12% lower amid rumours that the fundraising effort would fail, according to The Guardian. The idea that Qatar could be an anchor investor has vanished and without an anchor investor there is no demand from anyone else, one source told Reuters. Despite announcing on Wednesday night that a debt-for-equity swap offer raised slightly over 2bn part of a complex fundraising exercise intended to bolster the strength of the bank the failure to persuade a major investor to contribute 1bn meant the rescue plan would not succeed before it closed at 2pm on Thursday. With MPS now likely to miss an end-of-year deadline imposed by the European Central Bank to raise fresh funds, the Italian government was expected to step in, possibly as soon as Thursday, and increase its 4% stake in the bank. Gentiloni was propelled into the role after Matteo Renzi resigned following the referendum defeat earlier this month that sparked fresh political turmoil and deterred investors from backing the fundraising. Led by prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni, the government is now expected to force private investors owning about 2.1bn of the bank's bonds to take losses. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.