China’s central bank bought stakes exceeding 2% in Italy’s two most valuable companies, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Italian securities regulator Consob in Thursday filings. Consob said the People’s Bank of China bought a 2.1% stake in oil and natural-gas company Eni (E.NYSE, ENI.BIT) and 2.07% in utility firm Enel (ENEL.BIT), in a deal worth a total of about $2.76 billion (EUR 2 billion). Eni and Enel, both state-controlled, are Italy’s two biggest companies by market capitalization. Both companies have bylaws that limit voting rights to a maximum of 2%, apart from the government.