UniCredit shareholders approve $13.8b capital increase

MILAN (AP) - Shareholders in Italian bank UniCredit overwhelmingly backed a plan to raise 13 billion euros ($13.8 billion) in a capital increase as part of a broader strategy to improve the bank's profitability.

CEO Jean Pierre Mustier's plan won the backing of 99.6 percent of retail investors. Mustier envisions completing the capital increase in the first quarter, and his plan also includes measures to offload 17.7 billion euros in bad loans and cut 14,000 jobs.

"We have a lot of confidence," in the capital increase, Mustier said after the vote, noting that initial market feedback appeared positive and that he would be spending the next three weeks meeting investors in several countries.

The bank, Italy's largest by assets, earlier announced it will book an additional 8.1 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in bad loans in the last quarter of 2016.

UniCredit said in a statement that the latest provisions were part of a new strategy to manage soured loans that includes speeding up their collection or selling them off.