Libya's LIA says stakes in UniCredit, Finmeccanica unfrozen

The Chairman of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) said on Monday a Rome court had ordered the release of the sovereign wealth fund's stakes in Italian bank UniCredit and Italian air defence group Finmeccanica.

"I am very pleased with this result," LIA head Mohsen Derregia said in a statement.

The assets had been seized in March following a request by the International Criminal Court in the Hague on the grounds that they were held by LIA on behalf of the family of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

In July LIA's stake in oil and gas group Eni was also unfrozen.

Source: Reuters 

Libyan wealth fund to appeal against asset seizure in Italy

Libya's sovereign fund said on Thursday it would appeal to recover around 1.1 billion euros of assets, including stakes in top Italian companies, that were seized in Italy last month at the request of the International Criminal Court.

Italian financial police had seized the assets saying they belonged to members of the Gaddafi family, but the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) said that was not true.

"These assets belong to LIA, which in turn is controlled by the governemnt of Libya on behalf of the Libyan people," the chairman of the fund's management committee, Mohsen Derregia, said in a statement.

He said LIA would file an appeal with the appeals court in Rome on Friday.

The seized assets include stakes in Italy's largest bank by assets UniCredit, oil and gas giant Eni, defence group Finmeccanica, carmaker Fiat, truckmaker Fiat Industrial and soccer club Juventus .

Reuters: (Reporting By Silvia Aloisi)