June 24 (Reuters) - The European Commission is examining

the Italian government's sale of a 15% stake in Monte dei Paschi

di Siena last year, following claims that large

investors were shut out of the bidding process, the Financial

Times reported on Tuesday.

Reuters reported last week that prosecutors in Milan were

also looking into the sale of a stake in the bank to a small

group of investors, without providing details on what part of

the process was being probed.

Italy's economy ministry

sold

the stake via an accelerated bookbuilding (ABB) procedure

to Banco BPM, fund manager Anima Holding,

construction tycoon Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and the

holding company of late Ray-Ban owner Leonardo Del Vecchio.

Banca Akros was the broker that handled the sale process.

The European Commission is looking into the details of

the stake sale, following complaints, to examine whether the

process was a fair and open market transaction, the FT reported,

citing two people briefed on the details.

The preliminary assessment could lead to the opening of

a state aid investigation, but no decision had been taken yet,

the report added.

UniCredit, Norway's oil fund and BlackRock ( BLK ) were among

the investors that were interested in buying shares in the bank,

but were told that the bidding had been already closed by Banca

Akros, the FT reported.

Banca Akros said in a

statement

last week that in its role as global coordinator and

bookrunner, it "conducted the process correctly and

transparently," fully complying with applicable regulations and

practices.

The European Commission and Monte dei Paschi di Siena

did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment

outside regular business hours. Banca Akros could not be reached

for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank

Dhaniwala and Anil D'Silva)