US fund manager BlackRock said earlier on Thursday that it had pulled out of a proposed rescue of the Genoa-based bank, a move that could push the Italian government into another costly state bailout.

"Nationalisation is not on the agenda," Conte told reporters at a gathering of European Union leaders in the Romanian town of Sibiu.

He added that "all the conditions are present" to find an alternative investor to BlackRock.

Copyright Reuters, 2019