MILAN, June 14 (Reuters) - Privately-owned fintech group

ION has received a green light from Italy's central bank to buy

bad loan and property manager Prelios from U.S. hedge fund

Davidson Kempner, two sources with knowledge of the matter said

on Friday.

The acquisition marks the latest investment by ION

founder Andrea Pignataro in his home country, following the

purchase in 2021 of Cedacri, Italy's main provider of outsourced

IT services to banks, and Cerved, a credit data group.

Pignataro's 6 billion euro ($6.4 billion) investments in

Italy in recent years have given ION a prominent role in the

country's financial sector as a supplier of key services, and

placed it in control of sensitive data.

The Bank of Italy's approval of the latest transaction,

which sources had said valued Prelios above 1 billion euros

including debt, comes after an extensive assessment, including

of ION's complex corporate structure.

The transaction has also been vetted by the government,

which has powers to block deals over assets deemed of strategic

national importance.

Rome

cleared it

after secured from ION copies of the contracts for the

loans the group will rely on to finance the buyout.

($1 = 0.9349 euros)