Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has taken a minority stake in Italian container /ro-ro (conro) specialist Ignazio Messina & Co.

The Swiss liner giant signed a deal yesterday through a subsidiary company Marinvest giving it 49% of the Genoa-based company.

It concludes more than two years of talks during which Italian financier Banca Carige sought to restructure around €450m ($506m) of distressed debt.