F2i tightens on the offer with Kkr, Thursday decisive meeting of the Corriere.it board of directors

Tim’s advice accelerates on the network dossier. Yesterday the new offers from Kkr and Cdp-Macquarie were examined for the infrastructure e Thursday the board will meet again to decide how to proceed. In case he decides to go ahead, despite the opposition of the first shareholder Vivendi — no longer present on the board — should be Kkr to win. The Stock Exchange seems to believe in the continuation of the sale procedure and yesterday, despite the drop in the FseMib, Tim shares gained 1.4%

The American fund presented theeconomically highest offer — 23 billion — compared to that of the consortium formed by Cassa deposti e prestiti and Macquarie – 19.3 billion -, which together control Open Fiber on which the Related Parties Committee of Tim would have highlighted the persistence of Antitrust issues. The two partners had begun discussing a possible demerger of Open Fiber, so as to allow CDP to remove the Antitrust obstacles and study a joint offer with Kkr.

However, the negotiation would have stalled, both for different strategic visions and for evaluation reasons. The stalemate would have led F2i to speed up talks with the US fund with the intention of immediately entering into the operation on the network, should Tim’s board decide to sit at the table with Kkr to obtain a binding offer.

The fund led by Renato Ravanelli it would guarantee the Italian presence in the new network company, thus counterbalancing the weight of Kkr in line with the government’s policy which aims to create a national infrastructure. On Thursday it will be clear what position Tim’s board will take. On the market, it is considered probable that investigations will start with the US fund, but it is not taken for granted that the form is that of exclusivity. In this case, the timing of any binding offer could lengthen, favoring the entry of other parties alongside Kkr.

However, given the state of the talks, F2i could also come out of the closet relatively quickly. It remains to be seen whether Cdp will enter at a later time. But above all it remains to understand how Vivendi will moveopposed to the sale of the network under the conditions set out in the two offers examined yesterday by board by Tim. «Vivendi is a market player, let’s see – commented yesterday the Minister of Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti — there are proposals on the table and the board of directors will decide ». The French shareholders are not present directly at the board, but can block the operation at the meeting. Tim’s board is aware of this and certainly Vivendi will find a way to weigh his dissent at the board meeting. board next Thursday.