Italy’s government-owned holding group IRI, parent of...

Italy’s government-owned holding group IRI, parent of Banca Commerciale Italiana, said it would comply with a Federal Reserve demand for additional information in connection with its $775-million takeover bid for Irving Bank Corp. of New York. In what was seen as a major setback for the friendly takeover offer, the Fed said that IRI, whose full name is Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale, is a bank holding company and therefore will have to disclose extensive financial information in its application. IRI owns 58% of the Italian banking group. Financial analysts believed that IRI would be unwilling to provide the information, which would improve Bank of New York’s chances of succeeding in its hostile $1-billion takeover bid for Irving Bank.