Italy's Bonomi eyeing stake in Banca Carige - sources {http://reut.rs/14vMWJv}
Jan 7 (Reuters) - Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi is interested in taking a "significant stake" in Banca Carige , three sources close to the matter said, as the mid-sized bank prepares to raise up to 700 million euros ($827 million) in a share sale.
Carige and bigger rival Monte dei Paschi di Siena have emerged as the two Italian banks that need to tap investors for cash following a year-long health check of euro zone lenders which ended in October.
Speculation about an investment by Bonomi, who this month pulled out of a race for French holiday company Club Mediterrannee, has pushed up Carige shares in recent days.
The stock has risen 16 percent in January after shedding 70 percent of its value in 2014 to hit an all-time low of 0.0522 cents on Dec. 23.
"Bonomi is still interested in Carige," one of the sources said.
The tycoon discussed last year buying a stake in Carige from the banking foundation that at the time owned almost half of the lender, but they could not agree on the price, the source said.
The debt-laden Carige foundation now owns 19 percent after reducing its holding ahead of an 800 million euro cash call the bank carried out in June to beef up its weak capital ratios.
At current market prices, the foundation's stake is worth around 120 million euros, matching the value of its debts.
Bonomi may consider purchasing part of the foundation's stake and then buying into the rights issue to build a stake of between 20 and 25 percent, one of the sources said.
"This time too it will be a matter of agreeing a price," the source said.
The foundation would like to sell the stake at a premium compared to market prices but Bonomi disagrees, the sources said.
In January last year Bonomi sold his entire stake in Banca Popolare di Milano after failing to bring about a governance overhaul at the co-operative lender.
"Bonomi rules out any hostile moves but he would like to have a significant stake so as to influence matters as he sought to do at Popolare Milano," one of the sources said.