By Sarah Sloat

Italy's Atlantia SpA (ATL.MI) is open to considering a change to its 16.3 billion-euro ($19.19 billion) bid for infrastructure company Abertis Infraestructuras SA (ABE.MC), a day after Germany's Hochtief AG (HOT.XE) made a higher counteroffer, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on its website late Wednesday.

"We remain strongly convinced of the economic and industrial validity of our offer for shareholders of Atlantia and Abertis and reserve the right to evaluate, in accordance with the law, any possible modification or decision regarding our offer," Atlantia Chief Executive Giovanni Castellucci told the newspaper.

Hochtief, the German arm of Spain's Actividades de Construccion y Servicios S.A. (ACS.MC), made a counteroffer of EUR18.6 billion for Abertis on Wednesday.

Earlier Thursday, Abertis said Altantia's offer was "positive and attractive from the industrial point of view," but that the bid itself had room for improvement.

Write to Sarah Sloat at sarah.sloat@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2017 04:16 ET (08:16 GMT)

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