Benettons and Blackstone secure 62.2% of Atlantia’s shares as bid nears end

MILAN (Reuters) – The Benetton family and U.S. investment fund Blackstone have secured Atlantia shares accounting for 62.2% of its capital as of Thursday, a day before the deadline for their takeover bid, Reuters calculations based on bourse data showed.

Borsa Italiana said the take-up in the buyout offer for the Italian infrastructure group, which is run through a vehicle called Schema Alfa, reached 43.504% of the shares targeted by the offer.

Edizione already controls 33.1% of Atlantia.

Schema Alfa’s 58 billion euro ($58 billion) bid to take private the infrastructure group ends on Friday.

The vehicle needs to achieve a threshold of 90% for the offer to be valid. ($1 = 1.0049 euros)

(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin and Andrea Mandala, editing by Alvise Armellini and Keith Weir)