Carige commissioner expects offers for bank by mid-April

GENOA, Italy (Reuters) - The commissioners appointed by the European Central Bank to run Banca Carige expect offers from potential buyers of the troubled Italian lender by mid-April, one of the three administrators said.

"In the first half of April," Commissioner Fabio Innocenzi told reporters.

He confirmed Carige would close next week the sale of its Creditis consumer credit unit to Chenavari following the accord struck with the British investment firm in December 2017.

Asked about a possible break-up of Cesare Ponti, Innocenzi said the private banking unit was one of the pillars of Carige's latest business plan.

(Reporting by Andrea Mandala, writing by Valentina Za; editing by Agnieszka Flak)