Banca Carige SpA raised approximately €544.4 million through the issuance of 54,435,699,840 new ordinary shares as part of a capital strengthening plan for more than €1 billion.

The European Central Bank recommended that the Italian lender boost its capital by at least €500 million by the end of 2017.

The lender said the first allocation sub-underwriters, with Equita SIM SpA acting as co-underwriter, have proportionally subscribed for 11,925,301,640 new ordinary shares, for an overall subscription amount of €119.3 million based on guarantees given. Equita SIM did not subscribe for any Banca Carige shares in the transaction.

The 4,638,000,000 new ordinary shares arising from the reserved tranche were settled for a total amount of about €46.4 million. The new senior notes with an overall par value of €188.8 million were also delivered.

Clifford Chance acted as legal adviser for Banca Carige on the entire capital strengthening effort.

The lender previously announced intentions to raise up to €500 million through a cash call, which it aims to complete by 2017-end, and raise at least €200 million more through the disposal of readily marketable assets to strengthen its capital.