CERNOBBIO (Italy), April 2: Italy plans to create an ad hoc sovereign fund to invest in strategic companies such as dairy firm Parmalat and shield them from hostile foreign takeovers.

The fund is to be modelled around an existing French structure, the Fonds Strategique d'Investissment, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti told a news conference on Saturday.

Tremonti said the fund would be partly backed by Rome's Cassa Depositi e Presititi (CDP), a state holding that manages 235 billion euros ($331.9 billion) in savings, and would be open to private investors.

“The CDP is involved in a plan to create a fund open to private investments identical to the French strategic investment fund,” Tremonti told a news conference at the Ambrosetti business forum.—Reuters