In Brief: 8 Banks to Co-Manage $20B in Olivetti Bonds

At least eight banks make up the co-manager group underwriting a $20 billion bond offering for Olivetti SpA's hostile bid to acquire Telecom Italia SpA.

The lead underwriters are Barclays Bank PLC, Chase Manhattan Corp., Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Lehman Brothers, and Italy's Mediobanca. Four banks known to be co-managers on the deal are Banque Nationale de Paris, Commerzbank, Westdeutsche Landesbank, and Banca Di Roma, according to a source in the underwriting group.

The bond offering, if fully funded, would be the largest in history. Olivetti would use the proceeds to buy shares of Telecom Italia in its $57.3 billion hostile bid.

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