MILAN (Reuters) - Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena's (MI:BMPS) said its rights issue was 99.59 subscribed as it closed on Friday, raising 2.98 billion euros (2 billion pounds) that will allow the Italian lender to pay back all state aid.
Monte dei Paschi needed the rights issue to plug a capital shortfall uncovered by a Europe-wide stress test of lenders last year.
"With the rights issue successfully completed we will repay all the outstanding state aid, well ahead the initial 2017 deadline agreed with the European Commission," Chief Executive Fabrizio Viola said in a statement.
He said Monte dei Paschi, which has lost 14.6 billion euros since 2011 and emerged as the weakest lender in the European review, would continue strengthening itself.
Italy's third largest lender, which received state-backed bonds in 2013 that had helped keep it afloat, has been selling assets, closing hundreds of branches and cutting 8,000 jobs to boost its finances.
The European Central Bank has also told Monte dei Paschi to find a buyer soon because it is not strong enough to stand on its own.
