UPDATE 1-Telecom Italia denies Telefonica merger plan report

(Recasts with Telecom Italia denial)

MILAN, May 9 (Reuters) - Telecom Italia SpA (TLIT.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) denied on Saturday a Corriere della Sera report that its management had discussed with two key investors the possibility of merging with Telefonica SA (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research).

Telecom Italia held separate meetings last Monday with top officials from Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) and Mediobanca SpA (MDBI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), who each hold 10.6 percent stakes in Telco, the investor group that controls Telecom Italia, the newspaper said in an unsourced report.

In a statement, Telecom Italia said "any plan of a merger between Telecom Italia and Telefonica did not exist."

Telco owns 24 percent of Telecom Italia. Telefonica owns 42.3 percent of Telco.

Under the Telecom Italia plan the Spanish would manage the combined Spanish and south America activities and the Italians the Italian, other European and north African operations, the newspaper said.

The operation would see Spanish shareholders holding 65 percent and Italians 35 percent in the merged group, it said.

Mediobanca and Intesa were cool on the idea, though not hostile, in part because the Spanish had already been told of the possibility, it said.

(Writing by Nigel Tutt, Editing by Peter Blackburn)