MILAN (Reuters) - Public prosecutors investigating whether Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena misled regulators over its 2007 purchase of Antonveneta from Spain's Santander also want to determine why the sale price was so high, La Stampa reported on Thursday.
Banco Santander bought Antonveneta in 2007 for 6.6 billion euros and sold it to Monte dei Paschi for 9.3 billion euros a few months later.
The story, which did not cite sources, was headlined "Magistrates on the trail of a 1.5 billion euro payment."
On Wednesday, prosecutors in Siena, where Monte dei Paschi is based, said the offices of the bank's main shareholder as well as those of several Italian and foreign financial banks that had dealings with the Tuscan lender were being searched.
Sources close to the situation told Reuters police visited the Milan offices of Intesa Sanpaolo
(Reporting by Jennifer Clark; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)
