Eqt buys 60% of the Wind Tre network: “Ready for further investments in Italy”

While waiting for the fate of the Tim network to be decided, that of Wind Tre passes under the control of the Swedish fund Eqt. The private equity firm has reached an agreement to acquire 60% of the Italian infrastructure owned by the Asian giant Ck Hutchison. The valuation was set at 3.4 billion euros, including debt.

Wind Tre’s fixed and mobile networks will merge into a newly established company which will be led by Benoit Hanssen and will inherit around 2,000 of the telecommunications company’s 6,500 employees. The newco, explains a note, will operate the largest mobile network in the country, the first with independent access in Europe, and will be mainly focused on mobile telephony and on the provision of wholesale services to operators through an infrastructure that at the end of 2022 covered about 67% of Italy with 5G reception.

The opposition of the trade unions, which called a strike on 4 May to block the deal, was of no avail. According to the FLC-CGIL, «the tariff war is in fact transforming the Italian telecommunications sector into an “emporium” where operators, in order to survive, stop investing in infrastructure and innovation but concentrate exclusively on services at increasingly tattered, with all due respect to investments and the stability of the quality of employment».

For its part, Eqt has ensured that it intends to invest in the development of the network and the offer of services, without therefore neglecting growth opportunities in areas such as fixed wireless access, the Internet of Things and private networks. “We firmly believe in the strategic logic of separating the infrastructures and services of mobile phone operators and we consider this investment as a model for future operations in other European markets”, underlined Francesco Malvezzi, Managing Director and Head of Italy of the fund’s advisory team Swedish.

Also yesterday, Wind Tre bought 70% of Rad, an Italian company specializing in IT security services for small and large companies. An operation which, according to CEO Gianluca Corti, “confirms Wind Tre’s willingness to focus on the country’s technological excellence”.