Franco Bernabè, vice-chairman of Rothschild Europe and a former chief executive at Eni, this morning warned that the Italian energy giant is vulnerable to a takeover.

In an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Bernabè said that the company does not now have sizeable debts, but that "if someone bought it and geared it up with tens of billions of euros, Eni would lose its capacity to invest, which would impact the security of the Italian energy industry".