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Italy

Telecom Italia CEO confident grid sale will go well

cde.news desk · 1 min read
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epa03881355 (FILE) A file photo dated 13 April 2010 showing the logo of Telecom Italia at the entrance to the headquarters of Italy's largest telephone operator in Rozzano, northern Italy. Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica has agreed to up its stake in Telecom Italia, shareholders in the Italian company said 24 September 2013, prompting speculation of a full takeover. Telefonica already owned 46.2 per cent of Telco, a holding company that is Telecom Italia's controlling shareholder with a 22.5-per-cent stake. Telco's Italian partners - insurance group Generali, lender Intesa Sanpaolo and investment bank Mediobanca - said they had agreed to let Telefonica increase its stake to 66 per cent first, and 70 per cent later. The Spanish group was to pay 324 million euros (437 million dollars) to take its holding to 66 per cent, valuing each Telecom Italia share at 1.09 euros - a significant premium over their current market value of around 60 cents. EPA/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

Telecom Italia’s (TIM) plan to sell its prized landline grid asset to reduce debt “should and can go well”, CEO Pietro Labriola said on Thursday, as sources said bids have not met top shareholder Vivendi’s expectations.

U.S. fund KKR and a rival consortium comprising state lender CDP and Australian fund Macquarie presented revised bids for the grid last week.

“We haven’t seen the (new) offers yet,” but “when managing a complex dossier like this, you have to be confident that things should and can go well,” Labriola said on the sidelines of an event in Rome.

Two sources with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters that KKR’s offer is the most generous at around 23 billion euros ($24.93 billion) overall, still short of the more than 30 billion euros sources close to Vivendi have said it wants.

Labriola said there was also a back-up plan to improve TIM’s prospects, should the asset sale not be possible.

“We have to turn around this company, we have a plan A and a plan B, we have to work to try to meet the objectives and satisfy all the shareholders,” he said.

Reuters

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