Telecom Italia (TIM) said it supports an offer from KKR Infrastructure to buy a 37.5 percent stake in the new network company FiberCop for EUR 1.8 billion. The binding offer values the company at EUR 7.7 billion in total. TIM said it would start talks immediately with the government on bringing in other investors in the new network operator.
FiberCop includes TIM's passive network infrastructure and the 80 percent it holds in Flash Fiber, the joint venture with Fastweb. According to TIM, Fastweb would get 4.5 percent of FiberCop for its 20 percent stake in Flash Fiber.
TIM's board said it "favourably acknowledged" the KKR offer and would reconvene on 31 August to take a final decision on the FiberCop project. In the meantime, it's in talks with the Italian government on its proposal to create a single national operator, including also the Open Fiber Infrastructure. TIM said it's board "looked very favourably upon the idea to speed up the Single Network project and will be enthusiastically taking part in the works the Government intends to launch over the next few hours".
According to Italian media reports, the government contacted TIM's board while it was meeting to discuss the KKR offer, encouraging the operator to delay a decision while talks continue on the national operator project. The creation of the broadband network is considered a key part of the government's economic stimulus plans. TIM confirmed it received a letter from the government, but did not comment on its content.
