M.Paschi not looking at Capitalia, Antonveneta

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MILAN, April 10 (Reuters) - Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) is not looking at either Capitalia CPTA.MI or Antonveneta, the bank owned by ABN AMRO AAH.AS, Director General Antonio Vigni told La Repubblica newspaper.

Siena-based Monte Paschi, which signed a major partnership with French insurance giant Axa (AXAF.PA) last month, and Roman-lender Capitalia are the only two major Italian banks not yet caught up in the country's banking consolidation wave.

"Capitalia and Antonveneta are often linked with Monte Paschi without anything concrete ... for various reasons they don't come into the ambit of our prospects," he said in an interview published in the newspaper's Tuesday edition.

"We are not obsessed by dimension: we will grow in Italy through sensible steps," Vigni also said.

ABN AMRO is Capitalia's top shareholder with an 8.6 percent stake. The Dutch bank is in exclusive merger talks with Barclays (BARC.L), but British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph said it may face a joint counterbid by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Spain's Santander (SAN.MC).

Monte Paschi Chairman Giuseppe Mussari indicated last month the bank could be interested in Antonveneta if it came up for sale but ruled out any interest in Capitalia.

Vigni said Monte Paschi, which owns 3.7 percent of Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) through holding company Holmo, was not among the Italian banks that are trying to put together an alternative offer to rival that of U.S. telecoms giant AT&T (T.N) and Mexico's America Movil (AMXL.MX).

"From our point of view market rules have to be taken into account as well as industrial strategies and the financial leverage containment," Vigni said.

((Editing by Leslie Gevirtz; Milan newsroom +39 02 66129 507, fax +39 02 801 149, milan.newsroom@reuters.com)) Keywords: MONTEPASCHI/

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