BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU competition regulators on Thursday gave the green light to a 44-billion-euro ($51.9 billion) Italian recapitalisation scheme for virus-hit large companies, saying this would support the Italian economy and labour market.
The scheme consists of four measures involving recapitalisation instruments, in particular equity, and hybrid capital instruments such as convertible bonds and subordinated debt, and is aimed at large companies that saw a sharp fall in this year’s revenues.
The European Commission said the scheme complies with its conditions for state aid granted to companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak, including ban on dividends, bonuses and acquisitions and an adequate renumeration to Italy for the aid.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Marine Strauss)
