Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore said on Wednesday leading UniCredit shareholders, including CariVerona which owns 2.7 percent of the bank, were all inclined to buy into the share sale to avoid a dilution of their stakes.

"The governance structures of the Foundation are continuing to carefully look into all the aspects and developments of the UniCredit turnaround," the source said.

In December, Italy's biggest bank by assets said it planned to raise 13 billion euros ($13.6 billion) in the country's biggest-ever share issue to shore up its balance sheet and shield itself from a broader banking crisis.

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Emilio Parodi, writing by Stephen Jewkes)