MILAN. Tim’s Netco could see the light of day by the end of the year, the entry into the field of the MEF which will acquire a 20% stake alongside KKR is the signal that everyone has been waiting for. The market, which has been pushing the stock for a few days and which today appreciated it by 2.75% to 0.28 euros, because it finally sees a restructuring of the group arrive, Kkr because it now has a weighty ally to close the operation and in a certain sense the armour; not least Tim who can thus implement the plan designed over a year ago. And now it seems unlikely that Vivendi will oppose head on, but her voice could be heard in the assembly. The memorandum of understanding has been signed, an agreement that provides for a binding offer (the one that Kkr must present to Tim’s board of directors by 30 September, ed) which establishes, among other things, the entry of the MEF with a share up to 20% in Tim’s Netco, the network company.
The MEF will therefore be in the minority but the agreement provides that “the terms of the offer from the point of view of relations between the parties envisage a decisive role for the government in defining the strategic choices” of Netco, Tim’s network. The next steps “will relate to the adoption of a Dpcm to complete the procedural process” as regards institutional intervention, meanwhile Kkr must complete the agreements for the financing of the 23 billion euro operation and, according to rumors, the banks’ commitment should arrive by 30 August.
For the government, the financial commitment should be up to 2 billion euros (considering that the ‘equity’ part of the offer will be around 10 billion euros and the rest is debt that will end up in the newco). The fund will thus have one month to complete its binding offer and in October Tim’s board of directors will meet to evaluate it. If he deems it necessary to call the shareholders to vote in the meeting, as requested by Vivendi, the ‘redde rationem’ could be reached by the end of the year.
Tim, exclusive negotiation with Kkr for the francesco spini network 22 June 2023
The roadmap indicated by CEO Pietro Labriola is thus even anticipated. On the occasion of the conference call for the presentation of the half-year results, commenting on press rumors, he recalled that the sale of Netco to Kkr will be “an industrial agreement and we put 9-12 months on the timeline” and underlined that “we do not expect problems specific at an antitrust level, but if there is the participation of some Italian shareholders, the golden power process will be simpler”.
«It is the ideal scenario for Tim, because it would eliminate the risks of an application of the golden power and could even lead to an improvement in the valuation of NetCo» comment the analysts. Meanwhile, the American fund is working on the definitive offer.
Following the decision by Tim’s board of directors on June 22nd to start exclusive negotiation with Kkr, all the necessary activities are underway to arrive at the receipt of a final binding offer by and no later than next September 30th. In New York, meanwhile, Kkr offers its investors the possibility of investing under the governance of the fund itself. It could therefore, as with Fibercop, choose the co-investment formula to bring on board other international investors interested in investing in Italy. He had started talking to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and recently the name of the Canadian pension fund was mentioned.