Italy - Factors to watch on November 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

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke on Friday with her German counterpart Friedrich Merz and together they stressed the importance of supporting U.S. efforts to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, her office said.

ECONOMY

Italy's Treasury is considering selling part of its 53% stake in air traffic controller ENAV ENAV.MI through an accelerated bookbuilding, while retaining control of the company, Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday.

As part of its 20-billion-euro privatisation plan for 2024-26, the Treasury is also studying the sale of Banca del Mezzogiorno and assessing options for the state mint Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (IPZS), including a possible initial public offering (IPO), the paper said, adding that a sale of a stake in Poste Italiane PST.MI is not on the table.

DEBT

Moody's raised on Friday Italy's sovereign rating to "Baa2" from "Baa3", citing the country's consistent track record of political and policy stability, its first such upgrade in 23 years.

Prime Minister Meloni said the upgrade by Moody's confirmed that markets had faith not only in the government but in Italy as a whole.

The Italian Treasury said on Friday it would sell 7.5 billion euros ($8.62 billion) of BOT bills at a November 26 auction.

COMPANIES

FTSE MIB

The payment of interim dividends, which on Monday involves 12 blue-chip companies on the Italian stock exchange, will result in a decline of around 1.14% in the FTSE MIB index, traders said on Friday.

STELLANTIS STLAM.MI

Stellantis may exit industrial automation company Comau entirely, handing full control to One Equity Partners, Corriere della Sera reported on Saturday. U.S. private equity firm One Equity Partners bought a 50.1% stake in Italy-based Comau from the automaker last year.

(*) Goldman Sachs said on Monday it initiated coverage of the carmaker with a 'neutral' rating and a target price of 9 euros or $10.

FERRARI RACE.MI

(*) Goldman Sachs said on Monday it initiated coverage of the luxury carmaker with a 'buy' rating and a target price of 391 euros.

DAVIDE CAMPARI CPRI.MI

The Italian spirits group is sounding out potential buyers for its three Italian brands – Sicilian liqueur Averna, amaro Braulio and Sardinian mirto Zedda Piras - Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday, adding that Italian food and beverage company NewPrinces NWLF.MI is interested in buying them.

FINECOBANK FBK.MI

The Italian bank said on Friday that its MREL capital requirements are well above the requirements set by the Single Resolution Board and the Bank of Italy.

(*) LEONARDO LDOF.MI

The design authority for the GCAP program's next-generation fighter jet, Edgewing, is in the final stages of negotiating its first international contract with the GCAP International Government Organisation (GIGO), created to provide direction, and control for the fighter jet joint venture, Edgewing CEO Marco Zoff was quoted as saying in Corriere della Sera's weekly supplement L'Economia.

"The speed with which the programme is advancing is unprecedented," Zoff added, confirming that the roadmap will proceed as planned and that the final horizon remains 2035.

The fighter jet programme is led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 7011.T in Japan, BAE Systems BAES.L in Britain and Leonardo in Italy.

Belgium would like the 11 Lockheed Martin LMT.N F-35 fighter jets it has recently ordered to be manufactured in Italy, at Leonardo's site in Cameri - which operates the Final Assembly line for the jets - Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken told La Stampa in an interview published on Monday.

(*) SNAM SRG.MI

Exane Paribas said on Monday it cut the gas grid operator to 'neutral' from 'outperform' and cut the target price to 5.50 euros from 5.70 euros.

JUVENTUS JUVE.MI

Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at bottom side Fiorentina on Saturday, a second successive stalemate which threatens to derail the Turin side's ambitions to challenge at the top of Serie A.

LAZIO LAZI.MI

The Rome-based club beat Lecce 2-0.

M&A, ESSILORLUXOTTICA ESLX.PA/ARMANI

Eyewear company EssilorLuxottica ESLX.PA would be interested in taking a stake of between 5% and 10% in Armani but would not seek an active role in the management of the luxury fashion group, Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Saturday.

M&A, ITALDESIGN

Italy's state-backed Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and automotive parts group Adler, based near Naples, are preparing a bid for a majority stake in Volkswagen's VOWG.DE design and engineering unit Italdesign, La Stampa reported on Sunday. The daily also mentioned rumours about an imminent sale of Italdesign to American-Indian tech and software group UST.

SMART CAPITAL SMCAP.MI

Starts capital increase, ends on December 11.

DIARY

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti attend African Union-EU summit in Luanda, Angola.

Florence, Bank of Italy Deputy Governor and insurance supervisor IVASS President Luigi Federico Signorini attends conference "The Autonomy of the Bank of Italy Between Politics and Economics" (1630 GMT).

Turin, CRT Foundation holds event "Giving Space to Value" (1000 GMT); expected attendees include UniCredit CRDI.MI CEO Andrea Orcel; Defense Minister Guido Crosetto delivers closing address.

((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/

($1 = 0.8700 euros)