The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
KKR & Co. has made a non-binding bid for a stake in Telecom Italia SpA’s multi-billion-euro network, the Italian carrier said on Thursday, as Chief Executive Officer Pietro Labriola seeks to turn the business around.
The shares gained as much as 14% in Milan on Thursday following the announcement of the bid.
Telecom Italia has struggled under a gross debt pile of more than €30 billion ($33 billion), which has become more burdensome as interest rates have risen. Industry veteran Labriola could use the proceeds from the sale of the network to slash the debt.
KKR already owns a minority stake in Telecom Italia’s FiberCop unit. In 2021, the phone carrier rejected an offer from the US private equity fund to purchase the whole business for €10.8 billion. The bid announced Thursday did not specify what size stake KKR is seeking in the network, with Telecom Italia saying in a statement that it is still to be defined.
The phone carrier’s subsea cable unit Telecom Italia Sparkle SpA is among the grid assets targeted in the KKR bid, according to the statement.