Italy - Factors to watch on March 24

The following factors could affect Italian markets on Monday.

Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

For a complete list of diary events in Italy please click on IT/DIA.

POLITICS

Negotiations on a potential contract between Elon Musk's satellite internet operator Starlink and the Italian government have stalled, reflecting broader geopolitical tensions, Italy's defence minister said on Saturday.

A nationalist with deep admiration for U.S. President Donald Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is battling to reconcile the growing gulf between her ideological instincts, which lie with Washington, and her country's strategic ties to the European Union, analysts say.

DEBT

Treasury announces sale of 6-month BOT bills, with relative amounts to be auctioned on March 27.

COMPANIES

FTSE MIB share index revision effective as of Monday.

TELECOM ITALIA (TIM) TLIT.MI, POSTE ITALIANE PST.MI

France's Vivendi on Friday said it had reduced its ownership in the telecoms operator to 18.4% from 23.8%, in line with its earlier strategic decision to divest from the Italian group.

Vivendi could sell all or part of its remaining stake in TIM to the telecoms group's second-largest investor Poste Italiane PST.MI and to private equity firm CVC, several Italian newspapers said over the weekend.

(*) The French group is looking at selling further stakes in the coming weeks, La Stampa reported on Monday, adding that the idea is to cut the original stake to about 5%, keeping a "strategic" shareholding in TIM, according to financial sources.

TIM has mandated a group of banks to manage amendments to an existing 4 billion euro credit facility expiring next year, including reducing it to 3 billion euros and extending it to 2030, daily Il Messaggero said on Sunday.

BANCO BPM BAMI.MI, ANIMA ANIM.MI

The European Central Bank will unveil this week its decision on whether favourable capital rules on banks' insurance holdings, known as the 'Danish Compromise', also apply to the purchase of an asset manager by a bank's insurance unit, such as Banco BPM's bid for Anima, a person close to the matter said on Friday. The ECB communicates its decision to the banks involved.

UNICREDIT CRDI.MI, BANCO BPM, ANIMA

UniCredit said in a document on its website it published late on Friday at the behest of market regulator Consob that failure to merge Banco BPM into the group after acquiring control of the rival would reduce projected cost savings in the tie-up by 200 million euros. It also estimated in 44 basis points the additional hit to its core capital ration if Banco BPM were to acquire Anima without the benefits of the Danish Compromise and the bid's take-up were 100%. That would be on top of a 78 basis point negative impact from the acquisition.

STELLANTIS STLAM.MI

The automaker is offering a new round of buyouts for some of its factory workers in the Untied Stated as it looks to cut costs following a difficult 2024.

IVECO IVG.MI

The Italian truck-maker is looking to raise as much as 1.5 billion euros from a sale of its defence unit, Bloomberg reported on Friday, as a projected defence spending surge in Europe stokes interest for military assets.

FERRARI RACE.MI

Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified from the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix after their cars failed post-race checks on Sunday.

SNAM SRG.MI

A peace deal between Russia and Ukraine could allow Europe to restart limited natural gas flows from Russia, creating some additional supply and helping prices to fall, the CEO of the Italian gas company, Stefano Venier, told Il Corriere della Sera daily in an interview published on Sunday.

(*) MAIRE MTCM.MI

Barclays cut the shares to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight' on Monday.

MEDIAFOREUROPE (MFE) MFEB.MI, MOLTIPLY GROUP MOL.MI

German media group ProSiebenSat.1 PSMGn.DE agreed on Friday to sell comparison website Verivox to Italy's Moltiply Group for 231 million euros ($250 million) as it seeks to focus more on its core TV broadcasting business.

Selling the digital assets could make it easier for MFE to launch a takeover bid for ProSieben.

JUVENTUS JUVE.MI

The Serie A club have sacked manager Thiago Motta and replaced him with their former player Igor Tudor, it said on Sunday, following two consecutive heavy defeats in a disappointing season, with the club fifth in the league standings.

FINCANTIERI FCT.MI

Releases FY results, followed by conference call (1430 GMT).

DIARY

Rome, Industry Minister Adolfo Urso and Labour Minister Marina Calderone convene meeting on telecommunications sector (1230 GMT); representatives from trade associations and trade unions have been invited.

Rome, "Governing Europe and Italy in the Age of Donald Trump" (1630 GMT); expected attendees include EU Commission Vice President Raffaele Fitto; Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti delivers closing address.

Porto Marghera, Eni ENI.MI unit Versalis holds news conference for the start-up of the first plant for the production of plastics from recycled raw materials (1445 GMT).

((Milan newsroom, e-mail: reutersitaly@thomsonreuters.com))

For Italian market data and news, click on codes in
brackets:

20 biggest gainers (in percentage).............PG.MI

20 biggest losers (in percentage)..............PL.MI

FTSE IT allshare index .FTITLMS

FTSE Mib index........ .FTMIB

FTSE Allstars index... .FTSTAR

FTSE Mid Cap index.... .FTITMC

Block trades.......... .BLK.MI

Stories on Italy...... IT-LEN

For pan-European market data and news, click on codes in
brackets:

European Equities speed guide...................EUR/EQUITY

FTSEurofirst 300 index...............................FTEU3

DJ STOXX index.......................................STOXX

Top 10 STOXX sectors............................PGL.STOXXS

Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors.......................PGL.STOXXES

Top 10 Eurofirst 300 sectors....................PGL.FTEU3S

Top 25 European pct gainers........................PG.PEUR

Top 25 European pct losers.........................PL.PEUR

Main stock markets:

Dow Jones................DJI Wall Street report ......N

Nikkei 225..............N225 Tokyo report.............T

FTSE 100................FTSE London report............L

World Indices.....................................0#.INDEX

Reuters survey of world bourse outlook.........EQUITYPOLL1

Western European IPO diary..........................WEUIPO

European Asset Allocation........................EUR/ASSET

Reuters News at a Glance: Equities...............TOP/EQE

Main currency report:...............................FRX/