Tim chooses Kkr for the network, a 23 billion operation. Vivendi ready to say no – Corriere.it

Tim’s board takes a step forward on the network dossier by choosing Kkr to begin exclusive negotiations on the sale, compared to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Macquarie who leave the scene. At least for now. The US fund offered 23 billion – against 19.3 from the opposing consortium – and will have until September 30 to negotiate the terms of the purchase of Tim’s infrastructure, of which it already owns a piece through the 37.5% stake in FiberCop, the company that controls the last mile of the network included in the scope of the sale.
This is the first step of a journey that promises to be long and still to be defined. Vivendi against the transfer of the infrastructure to the US fund and yesterday the Financial Times reported that Tim’s first partner would be ready to fight to stop the operation.

The news weighed on the stock market where the shares of the telephone group came to lose up to 4% to then recover and close at -2.85%. On the other hand, it did not influence the resolution of the board for the start of exclusive negotiations with Kkr, assumed unanimously, thus following the line of the strategic plan defined by the CEO Pietro Labriola, focused on the sale of the network. Now Tim has three months to conduct an improvement negotiation with Kkr – explained the company in a note -, aimed at obtaining the presentation of a final and binding offer according to the best terms and conditions, as well as agreeing on the perimeter, methods and times for the execution of the confirmatory due diligence activity . The path takes time and the negotiation will serve to define the exact perimeter of the business branch that will contain the assets to be sold (NetCo), including the number of employees, the amount of debt that will be transferred, the service contracts and the details sales technicians. Not excluded that to speed up the process Kkr presents a binding offer subject to the occurrence of the conditions that will be negotiated in the next three months with Tim. However, it will take more than a year to complete the entire sales process.But there is always the unknown Vivendi. If everything goes according to plan, in the autumn the operation could be submitted to the assembly where the French shareholders will be able to weigh their 23.7% to stop the sale.

There may be changes in the meantime. Kkr has given the willingness to open the offer to other participants and CDP would aim to return with a stake of less than 5% and without governance, so you don’t have to go through the Antitrust meshes. A small but significant share, if one looks at the single network project in perspective. Even before the Cassa, it could be F2i to support Kkr, in order to immediately counterbalance the weight of the US fund in a strategic asset for national security. The infrastructural fund led by Renato Ravanelli already has the availability of Kkr, with which it has dealt with for a long time. Now there are the conditions to proceed.