FILE PHOTO: Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini addresses a major rally of European nationalist and far-right parties ahead of EU parliamentary elections in Milan, Italy May 18, 2019. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy’s ruling League party is ready to back a state rescue of Carige in the absence of private investors willing to plug in a capital shortfall at the ailing bank, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini was quoted as saying.

“The League is ready for a state rescue if new, real, trustworthy capitals fail to come forward quickly,” League leader Salvini told local newspaper Il Secolo XIX in an interview published on Thursday.

Carige is running out of time to find a buyer after U.S. asset manager BlackRock this month dropped a potential bid for the Genoa-based lender, following a similar move by Minnesota-based fund Varde Partners.

Sources have told Reuters that European bank supervisors think Carige should be closed if it can’t find a buyer, contrary to Rome’s plan for a state rescue.