BARCLAYS PLC The Italian state is providing cash-strapped regions with the funds to repurchase the bonds from private investors.
It will then give the regions more time to pay back the funds used to finance the buyback deals.
The regions of Abruzzo, Campania, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont and Puglia have hired Barclays (>> Barclays PLC), BNP Paribas (>> BNP PARIBAS), Citigroup (>> Citigroup Inc) and Deutsche Bank (>> Deutsche Bank AG) to manage any offers to buy back their bonds.
Rome gave the regional governments, which mainly look after healthcare and also run transport services, permission to restructure their debt in this way earlier this year.
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, writing by Isla Binnie; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
