Risanamento gives U.S. fund more time in Sky Italia talks

MILAN Dec 21 (Reuters) - Italian real estate company Risanamento said talks with U.S. private equity fund Global Asset Capital which wants to buy the Milan headquarters housing pay-television operator Sky Italia, are now set to run into the new year.

The heavily indebted real estate company said on Friday talks would continue on an exclusive basis until Feb. 15 to allow the California-based fund to talk to banks and define the financial structure of the proposed deal.

Initially talks were due to be completed by Dec. 31, it said. Global Asset Capital made a non binding offer for the building back in September.

Sky Italia, a wholly owned unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, rents the building from a unit of Risanamento.

Risanamento was the biggest Italian real estate victim of a financial crunch in 2009 when falling property prices and the end of easy lending made its large debt hard to sustain.

It is also in talks until mid-February to sell its huge Santa Giulia development area on the outskirts of Milan.