The Republic of Italy is offering $2.1 billion of government bonds exchangeable for shares or American Depositary Shares in the state owned insurance company Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni (INA). It is the first time a European government has used exchangeable securities to privatize government assets. The offering is structured as $1.06 billion of 5% Privitization Exchangeable Notes (PENs) and L1,630 billion ($1.06 billion) of 6.5% PENs.
July 31 1996