Reuters reports the US fund and Italy’s Treasury are to ask Telecom Italy to extend the deadline of end of September
The semi-privatisation of TIM’s fixed infrastructure is still not over the finish line.
The US infrastructure fund, KKR, and Italy’s Treasury are set to ask Telecom Italia (TIM) for more time to arrange their joint bid for its landline unit, according to Reuters. The deadline is the end of September.
As always regarding TIM a number of things are happening in parallel.
Vivendi is not onboard
The CEO of French conglomerate Vivendi, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, has requested a meeting with the Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti. Vivendi is TIM’s biggest shareholder with a 24% holding and has been less than enthusiastic about the price to be paid by KKR, which it thinks is too low.
The US fund’s preliminary valued the netco at about €23 billion. The deal cannot proceed with Vivendi’s agreement. It is not known when the meeting between the Ministry and Puyfontaine will take place.
KKR’s long compaign
After a long, convoluted process, KRR was given exclusive rights to negotiate a deal up to the end of September which included the international fixed infrastructure which trades as Sparkle, and the national fixed network.
Then KKR gained the backing of Italy’s government in August to make a joint bid with Italy’s Treasury for the infrastructure, which is classed as a strategic national asset.
The sale of the netco is central to efforts by TIM’s CEO, Pietro Labriola (pictured), to put the former wholly state-owned incumbent on a better footing, including attacking its debts of €26 billion. TIM employs more than 40,000 people in Italy.
Now KKR and Italy’s Treasury are to formally ask for an extension to the deadline. A meeting of TIM’s directors on 27 September will look at the reasons the request has been made.
Agreement from other bodies
Reuters says the Treasury needs permission to proceed from the national audit court which is expected to rule on the proposed deal in October. Also, the Treasury is to seek assurances from the country’s competition authority that it will not harm competition, Reuters reported separately.
The Italian government intends to hold a minority stake of the netco worth no more than €2.2 billion.