Vivendi, the main shareholder of Telecom Italia, considers the agreement signed between Rome and the US investment fund KKR for a joint offer to acquire the operator’s fixed network to be “positive news”, a source close to Vivendi told AFP on Friday. the french one media giant. “The direct commitment of the Italian government” is “positive news”. However, “in order to reach concrete and feasible solutions it is necessary to open a serious dialogue with Vivendi,” he added.
“A discussion is now essential to find the best solution for the company and for all its shareholders, whose interests Vivendi will continue to represent with the greatest determination,” said this source.
submarine cables
The Italian government signed a memorandum of understanding with the KKR fund on Thursday to prepare a joint offer to buy Telecom Italia’s (TIM) fixed network. The Ministry of Economy intends to take a stake of “up to 20%” in the future TIM company that will bring together its fixed network and its submarine cable subsidiary. His participation is valued at about two billion euros. The nationalist government headed by Giorgia Meloni has also made it known that it intends to play “a decisive role” in defining “strategic options” in relation to the TIM network.
The Italian state is the second largest shareholder of Telecom Italia, through the 9.81% stake of Italy’s Caisse des dépôts (CDP).
After months of uncertainty, TIM had opted at the end of June for the KKR fund’s offer to take control of its network, and entered into exclusive negotiations with it. KKR’s proposal, which under certain conditions reaches 23 billion euros, was considered more advantageous than CDP’s competing offer, which was around 19.3 billion euros. But KKR’s offer fell well short of expectations from Vivendi, which owns a 23.75% stake in Telecom Italia and had estimated the value of the fixed network at 31 billion euros.
“Promising scenario”
A joint bid between Rome and KKR should also involve other Italian investors, such as infrastructure fund F2i. The CDP could also have a role, albeit limited, in the network. In total, the participation of Italian investors should be between 30 and 35%, leaving the majority to KKR, a financial source told AFP. KKR’s offer is based on a base of 21,000 million euros that would increase to 23,000 million euros in the event of a merger of the TIM network with that of its competitor Open Fiber, controlled 60% by CDP.
TIM set September 30 as the deadline to submit a binding offer, which should not be much higher than the current proposal. The signing of the agreement between Rome and KKR “marks an important acceleration in the negotiations” on the takeover of the network and “represents a very promising scenario”, judge Intermonte analysts.
However, “Vivendi’s position remains one of the main factors of uncertainty for the success of the operation” because the group “could exercise its veto power in the event of a possible extraordinary general meeting of shareholders” called to approve the transaction. they added. .
Source: BFM TV
