STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UnipolSai shares higher after Allianz offer

Shares in UnipolSai (Dusseldorf: SOAN.DU - news) rise after Germany's Allianz makes an offer for some of the assets the Italian insurer must sell as part of its merger with peer Fondiaria SAI (Milan: FSAR.MI - news) .

UnipolSai, whose shares debuted earlier this month, has to sell assets carrying premiums of 1.7 billion euros ($2.31 billion) to meet antitrust conditions.

"The Allianz news is a positive as ... it reduces fears on price," a local broker says in a note.

An offer from Belgium's Ageas (Other OTC: AGESF - news) was rejected by the insurer on Wednesday as it did not meet Unipol (Frankfurt: UIPN.F - news) 's expectations.

"The question mark is if the Antitrust will give the greenlight for a partial disposal but we are pretty optimistic," the broker says.

The details of Allianz's offer are not known but some newspaper reports say it covers premiums worth 1.0-1.5 billion euros.

At 0952 GMT UnipolSai shares are up 2.2 percent while shares in its controlling investor Unipol Financial Group are up 3.7 percent.

Reuters messaging rm://stephen.jewkes.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ($1 = 0.7356 euros)