By Francesca Landini and Cristina Carlevaro

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's antitrust has conditionally approved the acquisition of 2i Rete Gas by domestic rival Italgas, the largest gas distributor in Europe, the authority said on Tuesday.

Italgas agreed in October to buy 2i Rete Gas for 5.3 billion euros ($5.8 billion), marking a significant move in the consolidation of the country's gas distribution sector.

The antitrust body called on Italgas to implement several remedies, including the sale of part of its gas distribution business in Italy corresponding to 600,000 customers from a total of 12.3 million clients the combined entity with 2i Rete Gas would have reached in its home country.

The group will have to complete the disposal by the end of October 2025.

A number of Italian gas groups, including Ascopiave, have said they would be interested in buying customers that Italgas would potentially sell to comply with antitrust requests.

"Italgas will proceed with the closing of the transaction by the end of the first quarter," the company said in a separate statement.

The group headed by Chief Executive Paolo Gallo will begun to integrate 2i Rete Gas in the second quarter, moving ahead of schedule, Italgas said, adding this will allow it to start rolling out 15.6 billion euros in planned investments under its 2024-2030 strategic plan.

In the coming months, the two gas distribution groups will prioritise the integration of their corporate and information systems, the digitisation of the network and other actions to achieve initial synergies. They will also begun large-scale applications of artificial intelligence solutions. ($1 = 0.9189 euros)

(Reporting by Francesca Landini and Cristina Carlevaro, editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Keith Weir)