Italian Stocks - Factors to watch on Jan 2

MILAN, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The following factors could affect
Italian markets on Friday.

Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot
vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

SHORT SELLING

Italy's bourse regulator Consob extended a blanket ban on
short-selling of banking and insurance stocks to Jan. 31, 2009.
For other stocks, short-selling is allowed if the seller has
borrowed stock [ID:nMAT008989].

* TELECOM ITALIA (TLIT.MI)

Telefonica (TEF.MC) has offered 1 billion euros to buy
Telecom Italia's German asset HanseNet but the Italian group
considers the price too low, Il Mondo said.

Italy's communications regulator will send Brussels before
Jan. 10 details on plans to separate the fixed-line network from
Telecom Italia, La Repubblica said on Friday. The EU Commission
will then have a month to decide on the operation.

FIAT (FIA.MI)

Italy's car sales for December are announced by the
Transport Ministry at 1700 GMT.
* Car sales fell around 10 percent in December to about
140,000 units, better than expected thanks to car incentives, Il
Sole 24 Ore said in a projection ahead of Friday's data. Sales
in 2008 fell 13.4 percent on the year with Fiat reaching a
market share of 32 percent, the paper said.

La Repubblica newspaper reported on Wednesday that if there
is no rollover of incentives to trade in old cars or some other
help for the industry from Rome, there could be a meeting
between Confindustria head Emma Marcegaglia, Fiat's chief
executive Sergio Marchionne and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
in the first weeks of January.

UNICREDIT (CRDI.MI)

The bank announced a flurry of last-minute deals to boost
its Core Tier 1 ratio on Tuesday as it strives to reach its
target of 6.7 percent for the key benchmark by year-end
[ID:nLU434103].

The Austrian government will step in to run Bank Medici, in
which UniCredit's Bank Austria holds 25 percent, after the
Bernard Madoff scandal hurt the Vienna-based bank, a source with
direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday [ID:nLV606134]

BANKS

The Bank of Italy has called a meeting with the heads of
Italy's largest lenders -- UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banca
Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Mediobanca, Banco Popolare and UBI
Banca -- for Jan. 20 to check up on lending and liquidity, Il
Messaggero reported on Wednesday.

* ENEL (ENEI.MI)

The Italian power company has asked the European Investment
Bank for 1 billion euros to fund network development, Milano
Finanza said on Friday.

* ITALCEMENTI (ITAI.MI)

The group is considering simplifying the chain of control by
buying the float of Ciments Francais, the weekly Il Mondo
reported.

PININFARINA (PNNI.MI)

The Pininfarina family agreed to sell its stake in the
company, the designer of iconic cars for films and Ferrari, in a
deal that helps the group handle its nearly 600 million euros of
debt [ID:nLV547895].
* Il Sole 24 Ore said on Friday French financier Vincent
Bollore is the most likely candidate to play the leading role in
the group.

IT HOLDING (ITH.MI)

The owner of fashion label Gianfranco Ferre said its board
had given Chief Executive Pierantonio Nebuloni the go-ahead to
explore other deals as well as continuing talks with MENSUN. It
was locked into exclusive discussions with the Chinese company
only until Dec. 31. The board confirmed it intended to finalise
a deal with MENSUN in its statement on Tuesday.

EDISON (EDN.MI)

Chief Executive Umberto Quadrino expects the industry to
shrink next year, he told the Financial Times in an interview
published on Wednesday. "Our projections are all below zero," he
said. Edison has around 17 percent of Italian energy production
and Quadrino added that "in future will grow at the rate the
market grows at." He suggested Edison might be well-placed for
further consolidation. "The crisis is a good moment for
companies with a sound industrial strategy and a sound financial
position, and we have both."

ALITALIA AZPIa.MI

Its buyer CAI finalised purchase of smaller airline Air One,
a legal source close to the investor group said. A board meeting
of CAI also confirmed continuation of the flag carrier's name.

A deal with Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) has been agreed, MF
newspaper said on Wednesday without any sources. Air France-KLM
would take a 25 percent stake for 310 million euros, the
newspaper said. Il Messaggero said the figure would be around
253 million euros, again without quoting any sources, and that
Air France-KLM could get three board members.

La Repubblica said on Wednesday Lufthansa's head Wolfgang
Mayrhuber would meet CAI head Roberto Colaninno on Jan. 5.
* The press said on Friday Air France-KLM will take a 25
percent stake. Il Sole 24 Ore said the deal with Air France will
be signed around Epiphany (Jan. 6) and closed on Jan. 9. The
paper said a 25 percent stake will cost Air France around 300
million euros, valuing the new Alitalia at around 1.2 billion
euros. Air France's stake will stay at 25 percent for 5 years
after which Alitalia will be governed by the French carrier and
a core group of Italian businessmen, Sole said.

Il Messaggero said the deal with Air France will offer
synergies of 200 million euros

MEDIASET (MS.MI)

Its Telecinco (TL5.MC) unit remained Spain's most-watched
television channel for the fifth year running in 2008 but did so
with the smallest-ever share for a No. 1 Spanish broadcaster,
data showed on Tuesday [ID:nLU217889]

* ECONOMY

The Italian government is set to lower its 2009 gross
domestic product forecast to minus one percent (-1 percent), La
Repubblica said on Friday.