** Shares in Italy's Italgas MIL:IG rise as much as 10% after gas grid operator and shareholder Snam MIL:SRG announced a 500 million euro ($584.30 million) bonds offering exchangeable into shares of the gas distributor
** Italgas shares rise as a "technical" effect of the operation, a Milan-based trader says
** Snam said that the initial exchange price of its green bonds, due 2031, is expected to be between 22.5% and 27.5% above Italgas' reference share price
** The reference share price is to be determined through the arithmetic average of Italgas shares' daily volume weighted average price between January 7 and January 9, it said
** The operation allows Snam to maintain its current financial position in Italgas unchanged, Mediobanca Securities notes
** It also means Snam will benefit from lower cost of financing, while at the same time valorizing the financial investment in Italgas
** Italgas sits on top of the pan-European STOXX 600 TVC:SXXP index
($1 = 0.8557 euros)