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By Pamela Barbaglia and Anjuli Davies
LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Three bidders have emerged asthe main contenders to buy UniCredit's fund managementarm Pioneer, in a deal which could net 3 billion euros ($3.4billion) for Italy's largest bank, sources familiar with thematter said on Tuesday.
Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali, thecountry's largest asset manager, French group Amundi,Europe's biggest asset manager, and an Italian consortium led byPoste Italiane have all made rival offers, the sourcessaid.
These bids are seen to be ahead of the pack, the sourcessaid, with other offers involving French firms Axa andNatixis, Australia's Macquarie, Germaninsurer Allianz and British group Aberdeen AssetManagement.
UniCredit, Generali, Amundi, Poste Italiane and Macquariedeclined to comment while officials at the other companies werenot immediately available for comment.
The successful sale is crucial for the Italian bank, whichis seeking to plug a gap in its capital requirements estimatedto be as big as 8 billion euros and wants to clinch a deal byNovember, even though the deadline for non-binding bids onlyclosed on Monday, the sources said.
The sale process, led by U.S. banks JPMorgan and MorganStanley, will gather pace in the coming weeks, with UniCreditgranting access to Pioneer's books ahead of a deadline forbinding offers in late October, the sources said.
The Italian bank wants to raise up to 3 billion euros fromthe sale of Pioneer, which has over 220 billion euros of assetsunder management.
ITALIAN CHAMPION
French boss Jean-Pierre Mustier, appointed in July, may needto decide between a French and an Italian deal, the sourcessaid, adding that a so-called "Italian solution" would bewelcomed by the government.
Poste Italiane has teamed up with state-backed bank CassaDepositi e Prestiti and asset manager Anima,a company where it holds a 10.32 percent stake, and wants tooffer more investment products to Italian savers through itsnetwork of 13,000 branches across the country.
But Poste Italiane lacks the international expertise ofglobal players such as Generali and Amundi who are better placedto negotiate Pioneer's licences to operate in foreign markets,one of the sources said.
Amundi, which has almost $1 trillion of assets undermanagement, was created from the merger of the asset managementarms of French banks Credit Agricole and SocieteGenerale in 2010 and is now valued at 7.5 billioneuros, having been listed on Euronext Paris last November.
FIRE SALE
UniCredit is currently conducting a wide-ranging review ofits businesses with a view to selling more assets and reduce thesize of any share issue.
An Intermonte report on Monday said a sale of Pioneer for 3billion euros would add 0.5-0.6 percentage points to UniCredit'score capital adequacy ratio.
Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Mustier is expected to unveil astrategic and capital-boosting plan at the end of November andwants to have a clear idea of how much he is likely to raisefrom the sale of Pioneer before then.
But he might decide to launch a share issue only after BancaMonte dei Paschi has completed its own cash call earlynext year, two of the sources said, so as not to interfere withhis weaker rival's fundraising efforts.
Meanwhile the sale of Pioneer is long overdue. UniCreditgave up in July on trying to combine it with Spanish bankSantander's asset management arm in a 2.75 billion-eurodeal first agreed in April last year.
Since then the bank has been looking for another industryplayer rather than a private equity fund to buy Pioneer, hopingto fetch a better price based on the synergies of a combinationwith another asset manager. ($1 = 0.8955 euros) (Additional reporting by Francesca Landini, Gianluca Semeraroand Silvia Aloisi in Milan; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
