Ubisense Group Share News (UBI)

* CEO, CFO confident will meet restructuring targets-sources

* Shares buck lower sector but down 40 pct since marketreturn

* Management did not discuss possible partners -source(Adds comments from second source)

By Maiya Keidan and Paola Arosio

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - The top executives of bailed-outItalian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena told investorsin London on Wednesday the bank is making progress with itsturnaround plan, two fund managers who attended the meetingssaid.

CEO Marco Morelli and CFO Andrea Rovellini said inone-to-one investor meetings they were confident about hittingtargets agreed with EU authorities to clear the rescue, one fundmanager said.

Morelli and Rovellini did not provide specific figures butsaid first-quarter earnings, due in May, would confirm therestructuring is on track, the second investor said.

Italy' fourth-largest bank, brought low by mismanagement anda huge bad loan pile, has been the biggest threat to thecountry's financial stability for years, until an 8.1 billioneuro ($10 billion) bailout last summer handed the Romegovernment a 68 percent stake.

But concerns over the Tuscan bank have intensified afterItaly's inconclusive election last month, which could produce agovernment dominated by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movementand the far-right League.

Both parties have opposed the previous government's effortsto shore up the country's banks, which have been struggling todeal with soured loans left over from a recession.

Monte dei Paschi is due to offload by mid-2018 25 billioneuros ($31 billion) in bad loans repackaged as securities inItaly's biggest such disposal, with help from a state-sponsored,privately-funded banking support fund.

It plans further sales of 5.4 billion euros to cut souredloans to 14 percent of total lending by the end of 2019, a levelwhich would still be almost three times the European average.

Yielding to regulatory pressures, all major Italian bankshave raised their goals to cut problematic loans as bankers saythe European Central Bank wants to see their level drop below 10percent of total lending.

Investors fear Monte dei Paschi may need fresh capital tocover further loan losses or to be able to shed bad debts morequickly than anticipated under its restructuring plan. They alsoworry about the bank's slow turnaround progress.

One fund manager said Morelli ruled out the ECB may demand amore ambitious clean-up, after lengthy negotiations over theturnaround plan agreed with Brussels last year.

Monte dei Paschi's shares have lost 40 percent since theyreturned to trade on the Milan bourse in late October, promptingboth Italy's Treasury and the bank to deny fresh capital may beneeded.

Monte dei Paschi made a 2017 loss of 3.5 billion euros, hitby 5.3 billion euros in loan writedowns as revenues dropped 6percent.

Banking sources have told Reuters Monte dei Paschi needs tofind a partner quickly, possibly as part of a three-way merger,but none have emerged so far.

UBI Banca, tipped in the Italian press as the mostlikely suitor, has repeatedly denied any interest.

Monte dei Paschi's shares closed up 1.5 percent,outperforming a 0.5 drop in the European bank index

"It's one of the few names that is up on the day," said thefund manager, who holds Monte dei Paschi debt but no shares.

"If you assume that people are going back and voting withtheir wallets, then they (the management) must be at leastgetting the messaging right."

The investor said he expected that the Italian government'sstake in the bank would ensure the situation "gets sorted out".

He said Morelli and Rovellini, who were accompanied by thehead of investor relations, did not talk about a possiblepartner. "They've got bigger issues," he said, adding that hethought the bank had to be cleaned up first.

Meetings will continue on Thursday, one person said.

Monte dei Paschi declined to comment on the meetings.

($1 = 0.8127 euros)(Additional reporting and writing by Valentina Za in Milan.Editing by Silvia Aloisi, Jane Merriman ands David Evans)