Shares in Banca Italease, Italy's leasing services and financial bank, rose as much as 4.54% to EUR 6.9 per share in early trading on Tuesday on speculation that the company received more than 15 offers for the real estate portfolio it is putting up for sale. According to market rumours, the investors which entered the second stage of the bidding process are Pirelli RE, international funds Orion and Patron Capital, Banca Profilo and a joint venture of Lehman brothers, Hines and Monte Paschi di Siena.

Shares in Banca Italease, Italy's leasing services and financial bank, rose as much as 4.54% to EUR 6.9 per share in early trading on Tuesday on speculation that the company received more than 15 offers for the real estate portfolio it is putting up for sale. According to market rumours, the investors which entered the second stage of the bidding process are Pirelli RE, international funds Orion and Patron Capital, Banca Profilo and a joint venture of Lehman brothers, Hines and Monte Paschi di Siena.

Investment bank Lazard, which is advising Italease on this transaction, will now shortlist five bidders for the EUR 400-500 mln worth of assets up for sale. The portfolio includes a total of 41 properties, mostly located in Milan (about 40%) and Rome (28%). Offices make up some 55% of the portfolio, while industrial assets represent another 20% and hotels 17%. Italease occupies 10 of the portfolio's assets, while a further 22 are vacant and the rest is leased to other tenants.