ROME/MILAN (Reuters) - A specialist fund run by U.S. asset manager BlackRock could be given more time to present an offer for troubled Italian lender Carige, three sources familiar with the matter said, as an April deadline looms.
Carige was placed under special administration at the start of the year after its top investor in December blocked a planned capital raising, derailing a rescue plan financed by the industry.
The European Central Bank last week extended to the end of September a mandate to three commissioners who have been put in charge of the bank and asked to find a buyer.
One of the commissioners said last month offers for Carige were expected by mid-April.
One of the sources said the deadline could be extended to the end of the month.
(Reporting by Stefano Bernabei, Gianluca Semeraro, Valentina Za and Andrea Mandala; editing by Francesca Landini)
