Saturday, July 27, 2024
HomeBusinessItaly's TIM, CDP sign preliminary accord on single network plan By Reuters

Italy’s TIM, CDP sign preliminary accord on single network plan By Reuters

Date:

Related stories

Guide to Using Essential Oils for Skincare

Essential oils are famous for skincare. They come from...

Signage for businesses – Services and their benefits

Signage is a form of advertising that conveys the...

OPSC Recruitment 2024: Apply Online for Latest Vacancies

The Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) has announced its...

Why It’s Important for Teachers to Teach Social and Emotional Skills

Academic knowledge alone is not enough to prepare students...

How Religion Supports and Shields Children’s Mental Health

In the UK today, many parents and foster carers...

[ad_1]

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Tim logo is seen at its headquarters in Rome, Italy November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo

By Elvira Pollina

MILAN (Reuters) -Telecom Italia (TIM) and Italian state investor CDP have signed a preliminary agreement to combine the phone group’s fixed network assets with those of state-owned broadband rival Open Fiber, they said late on Sunday.

The long-awaited move aims to pave the way for the creation of a unified ultra-fast broadband network across Italy, as CEO Pietro Labriola works on a turnaround plan for TIM focused on a full-blown split of its landline grid from service operations.

The preliminary agreement was also signed by infrastructure funds Macquarie and KKR, which hold minority stakes, respectively, in Open Fiber and in TIM’s last-mile network unit.

KKR came round to joining the TIM-CDP project after former Italian phone monopoly TIM spurned a 10.8 billion euro ($12 billion) proposal by the U.S. fund to gain control of TIM and delist it before splitting its fixed and services assets.

Shares in TIM rose 4% in early trade as Italy’s blue-chip index gained 0.6%.

CDP, which is TIM’s second-largest investor with a 10% stake and owns 60% of Open Fiber, will control the combined network entity, TIM and CDP said, adding that the parties aim to negotiate a binding deal by the end of October.

Any binding agreement will be subject to the approval of national and EU antitrust authorities. TIM’s shareholders will also have to vote on the deal.

Italy is keen to create a single broadband network champion to avoid duplicating investments and to speed up a fibre optic roll-out and digitalisation of its economy.

See also  The best New Fashion Trends for 2022

Under pressure for years in its hyper-competitive domestic market, debt-laden TIM is looking to raise money by hiving off its landline network, an asset analysts value at between 15 billion and 20 billion euros.

Options being discussed for the final structure of the deal with Open Fiber include also an outright sale of TIM’s fixed network, sources have said. The new network entity will take up a significant portion of TIM’s debt and domestic staff.

TIM and CDP had signed a preliminary agreement in 2020 but that plan, which envisaged TIM keeping a majority stake in the combined entity, ran aground due to political, regulatory and valuation issues.

($1 = 0.9298 euros)

[ad_2]

Source link

Bellie Brown
Bellie Brownhttps://businesstimes.org
Hi my lovely readers, I am Bellie brown editor and writer of Businesstimes.org. I write blogs on various niches such as business, technology, lifestyle., health, entertainment, etc as well as manage the daily reports of the website. I am very addicted to my work which makes me keen on reading and writing on the very latest and trending topics. One can check my more writings by visiting Cleartips.net

Latest stories