Italian stocks - Factors to watch on Jan 25

MILAN Jan 25 (Reuters) - The following factors could affect Italian markets on Wednesday.

Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

UNICREDIT

U.S.-based investment fund Capital Research and Management increased its stake in top Italian bank Unicredit to 5.406 percent on Jan. 18, a filing on market watchdog Consob's website showed on Tuesday. * UniCredit offered to buy back about 4.3 billion euros and 1.1 billion pounds of debt securities. The offers runs from Jan. 24 to Feb. 3.

"The acquisition of securities ... will generate profits and thereby increase Core Tier 1 capital as well as reduce interest expenditure in future years," UniCredit said in a statement.

UniCredit is planning to raise up to 25 billion euros ($32.45 billion) through the issue of so-called covered bonds as the bank moves to open up a new branch of funding, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

LUXOTTICA

Italy's Luxottica SpA, the world's top premium eyewear maker, expects demand in America to boost revenue in 2012 after sales beat expectations last year.

IMPREGILO

Italian builder Salini would consider bidding for its 1 billion euro ($1.3 billion) rival Impregilo SpA if the pair can't agree a merger to create a national champion in the construction sector, a source close to the matter said.

TELECOM ITALIA

Italy's biggest telecom operator said on Tuesday the board would give absolute priority to deleveraging and the maintenance of its credit ratings when it decides on the group's dividend policy on March 29.

The statement came after shares in Telecom Italia suffered on Tuesday due to a press report that the group would cut its dividend to protect its credit ratings.

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Stories on Italy...... IT-LEN

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