Poste Italiane IPO-ready, valued at 14-15 billion euros

By Deepa Babington

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's postal service Poste Italiane has been valued by investment banks at between 14 billion to 15 billion euros ($20.62-$22.09 billion) and is ready for a public offering as soon as the government decides to launch it, its CEO said.

State-owned Poste Italiane, one of Italy's largest non-publicly traded companies, has boosted profitability and revenue in recent years by expanding outside the mail business into more lucrative segments such as financial services.

"We are behaving as a company driven by typical market rules," CEO Massimo Sarmi said in an interview.

"At the moment, we are working as if at any moment we would be asked to become public."

Poste Italiane has been considered among the assets Italy's centre-left government could sell to lower public debt.

Sarmi has previously said he prefers a two-phase listing similar to that of Germany's Deutsche Post, where the whole group went public first before its banking unit was listed.

An IPO of Poste Italiane could be launched at anytime, but there was little to suggest it was imminent, he said.

"Up to now, I do not see at the horizon line anything special that is moving," he said.

"It's a political issue. In terms of technical aspects, I think we're ready - profitability, all the functionalities, (reporting) under accounting standards. All that's needed for becoming public are ready."

A couple of investment banks had valued the company at between 14 billion to 15 billion euros, he said.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government is in the midst of trying to privatize national airline Alitalia AZPIa.MI and has also said it will sell part of ship builder Fincantieri to the public.

BANKING ON PROFITS

Once notorious as an inefficient and bureaucratic loss-making operation, Poste Italiane has transformed itself into a money spinner by diversifying out of the mail business and investing in technology and modernization.

It has successfully leveraged its 14,000 outlets to offer everything from current accounts and loans to notary services. It is on track to report its sixth straight profitable year after decades of losses.

On Monday, it launched a new mobile phone service, which the CEO said made it the first postal group in the world to join the telephone services sector.