Mumble.. ci ho da fare due spesucce: mi serve la grana.

Reuters / February 20, 2004

MILAN -- Fiat on Friday sold its 1.6 percent direct stake in Italy's number two power company Edison in a roughly 100 million euros ($127.1 million) deal, the latest sale of non-core assets in a turnaround plan.

Fiat said the sale of the shares -- to institutional investors via a placement handled by U.S. bank Morgan Stanley -- did not affect its 24.6-percent stake in Italenergia Bis (IEB), a holding company which controls Edison.

"The transaction announced today does not change any of the strategic options of the Fiat group in the future," the Turin-based group said in a statement.

Fiat did not mention a price for the 65 million Edison shares sold. But market sources told Reuters in London that Morgan Stanley had won the mandate to sell the 65 million shares at 1.50 euros each, valuing the deal at 97.5 million euros.