MILAN (Reuters) - Italian airport operator Gemina (>> GEMINA SpA) said on Thursday its board sees no need to change terms of its merger with motorway group Atlantia (>> Atlantia SpA) because of an 800 million-euro (678.11 million pounds) claim from Italy's environment ministry.

In March, the environment ministry filed a claim for damages against Atlantia in a case relating to alleged environmental law violations in the construction of a motorway link in northern Italy called Variante di Valico.

In a statement on Thursday, Gemina said it had nevertheless mandated that its management discuss with Atlantia how to "neutralise" the potential risk of a reduction in Atlantia's value in case of a conviction.

In May, the board of the motorway company decided not to make any provision against the claim, which is worth almost 10 percent of its current market capitalisation of 8.3 billion euros.

Atlantia agreed to buy Gemina in March in an all-share deal to create one of the biggest European motorway and airport groups with businesses in Italy and Latin America. The operation is due to be completed by the end of 2013.

(Reporting By Danilo Masoni; editing by Jim Marshall)

Stocks treated in this article : GEMINA SpA, Atlantia SpA