Italy's Leonardo to sell 9.4% Avio stake to participate in capital hike

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's aerospace and defence group Leonardo said on Tuesday it was selling a 9.4% stake in rocket maker Avio through an accelerated bookbuilding to institutional investors. 

Leonardo, which will maintain a 19% holding, said it would use the proceeds from the sale of about 2.6 million Avio shares to subscribe to the rocket maker's planned capital increase.

Avio's shareholders, including Leonardo, approved a 400-million-euro capital hike plan last week to finance expanded manufacturing capacity at a time of robust opportunities in the global space and defence industries.

Intesa Sanpaolo, Jefferies and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners in the accelerated bookbuilding. 

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Gavin Jones)