The Telecom board of directors took note of the proposal arrived from the US fund Kkr, already a partner of the company in FiberCop. An expression of interest, currently non-binding and indicative, to launch a totalitarian takeover bid aimed at delisting which would be valid upon reaching at least 51% of the capital.
The board, according to what the company specifies, would not have resolved on anything, but the press release gives an account of the terms of the proposal with the indication of a price of 0.505 euros per ordinary or savings share. At that price level, the total capitalization of the group would be around 10.8 billion compared to 7.5 billion (savings shares included) on Friday with ordinary shares at 0.3465 euros and savings at 0.3505 euros.
A “friendly” proposal
The Telecom note reports that Kkr has qualified its expression of interest as “friendly” and that it aspires to obtain “the approval of the directors of the company and of the management”, as well as the approval of the Government given that Telecom holds various assets considered strategic on which the golden power insists. The operation is conditional on the performance of a confirmatory due diligence, with a hypothetical duration of four weeks.
The strange thing is that yesterday the board, having not deliberated, would not have given the green light to the due diligence required by the fund. It was not possible to obtain from Telecom a clarification on when and how an answer will be given to the American partner.
The discussion on the board
A reconstruction of the board meeting reports that the CEO Luigi Gubitosi would have liked to speed up the times, but that the two representatives of Vivendi, with the support of three other independent directors, would have instead held back. moment seems confirmed according to company sources), but the agenda, given the latest news, is still to be considered evolving. No details have been provided on the project, but – according to what appears, Kkr intends to enhance the individual assets of the group, offering the network to Cdp in the space of a few years. In this way, in the intentions, the knot of golden power would be dissolved. Probably, a reflection should also be made on Sparkle (the international cable network) and on Data centers.
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The Government “took note of the interest shown in Tim by qualified institutional investors”. Adding that «the interest of these investors to make investments in important Italian companies is positive news for the country. If this should materialize, the market will first of all evaluate the solidity of the project ».