Surprise move by the American fund Kkr: it has communicated to the government its determination to present an offer for Tim’s network. This happens after months of discussions at the Enterprise Ministry table between Tim’s main shareholders, i.e. Vivendi (23.75%) and Cdp (9.8%), who together with the government have been trying for some time to find a team to place the network under public control. Discussions that are proceeding with a substantial stalemate.
Once the rumors of a takeover bid for all of Tim had faded, the discussions centered on two different possible paths. A proportional split by Tim to create two distinct companies (one dedicated to the network, the other to services) in which to evaluate the network by the market, Vivendi’s preferred route, or to return to the footsteps of the memorandum of understanding and, following the separation , allow the CDP, together with other funds (there was already talk of Kkr), to take over the network. This was the preferred path of Cdp, which however has not yet managed to make an offer concrete also due to the distance in the evaluations of the network compared to Vivendi. While the French shareholders in fact aim for a valuation of 31 billion, for months the CDP has reasoned in the order of 17-19 billion.
In recent days, the impatience of Kkr, already a shareholder of FiberCop, has emerged. On the one hand, the fund would have shown concern about the stalling of the investments of the company it invests in. On the other hand, Kkr wants to prevent a possible tandem offer with CDP from being blocked for Antitrust reasons, as the Cassa is also the majority shareholder, with 60%, of Open Fiber, another company dedicated to optical fiber. Hence the resolution of the fund which has decided to move on its own by confronting, as far as it appears, the Ministry of the Economy which, at the moment, has not raised any objections.
According to some readings, however, an offer by Kkr (which opposes a “no comment”) on the network would be in contrast with the strategy of creating a “national” network under public control hitherto pursued by the government. It is possible that the attempt, once the offer has reached its destination, is to involve Kkr and find an alternative public entity to the CDP to accompany the American fund in the shareholding structure of the future network company, in a story still largely to be written and where Cdp risks being left without a comedy part.