Intesa in talks with 14 banks to syndicate Rosneft deal loan-exec

MILAN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo (Amsterdam: IO6.AS - news) is talking to 14 banks to syndicate a 5.2 billion euro loan it provided to fund the purchase of a 19.5 percent stake in Russian energy giant Rosneft by Glencore (Frankfurt: 8GC.F - news) and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, the head of Intesa's operations in Russia told Reuters.

"We aim to choose 2-3 banks to take up 2.5-3 billion euros," Antonio Fallico said on Thursday on the sidelines of a conference on Italy-Russia cooperation in Milan.

Fallico, who is chairman of Banca Intesa Russia, said there was no rush in closing the syndication deal. He said none of the banks involved in the syndication talks were Russian.

Asked about the funding of the stake purchase, Fallico said Intesa Sanpaolo had paid half of the overall amount.

"The rest was paid by the buyers," he said.

He added that Intesa had no connection with Russian bank VTB in the deal.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes and Giancarlo Navach, editing by Silvia Aloisi)