Monte dei Paschi's new debt swap offer raises 500 million euros as of Tuesday - source

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena has raised around 500 million euros as of Tuesday in a voluntary debt-to-equity offer, a source told Reuters.

The troubled bank, recently judged the weakest of the European Union's major banks, needs to dispose of a mountain of bad loans and raise 5 billion euros ($5.2 billion) by the end of this month or else face the risk of being wound down.

The debt swap was reopened on Friday, to include retail investors owning 2.1 billion euros of the bank's junior debt and holders of a hybrid financial instrument known as Fresh 2008.

 

The offer ends on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Silvia Aloisi)