Tim, the push on the national network. Vivendi and Cdp divided over the restructuring – Corriere.it

Tim is not a dead company but a living company, it can go ahead and bring innovation to the country system. LThe managing director, Pietro Labriola, dismisses the rumors about the telephone group’s difficulties. Yesterday during the “Telco for Italy” conference, the manager defended his plan to relaunch the group, however admitting that there are problems, not of an industrial but of a financial nature: We have a burden, a debt of 20 billion (more than 30 billion gross, ed) that needs to be resolved and the way the assets are sold, explained Labriola, anticipating that on February 15 we will present the 23-25 ​​Plan, we are closing 2022 better than what had been communicated to the market, therefore the expectation is also to improve the numbers of 23-25.

Tim’s network was already on its way to being sold to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti – the operation would have made it possible to deconsolidate 10 billion debts and transfer almost 20,000 employees – but the operation was stopped by the government with the decision to directly take charge of Tim’s problems with the establishment of a comparison table to understand how to secure the infrastructure. Yesterday the undersecretary of Palazzo Chigi in charge of Innovation, Alessio Butti, guest together with Labriola at the conference “Telco for Italy”, explained that we should decide on what was improperly called a single network and figure out how to create a national network, under public control. The merger between Tim’s infrastructure and Open Fiber to create the single network, at the basis of the agreement with CDP, is therefore not among the government’s priorities.

The focus at the moment is entirely on Tim and on the solution for the national network, which would pass through the separation of the infrastructure from the other assets of the telephone group, with the takeover by the CDP. The hypothesis of putting it together with Open Fiber remains on the table, but as Butti has already explained, there will not be a single network, but several networks in order to respect the principle of infrastructural competition required by Europe. How to get there? The path to be built. Today for the first time at the government table, Vivendi and Cdp will meet to compare their respective points of view on Tim’s future. Vivendi’s number one, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, will be there, while the CEO of Cdp Equity, Francesco Mele, should participate for the Cassa, and the heads of cabinet of Mimit, Mef and Palazzo Chigi for the government. The hypothesis of buying the network could come back on the table: it would still be the preferred route by CEO Labriola – there have been rumors of Kkr’s willingness to buy 51% and yesterday also of an interest from the Gpi fund – and by Cdp, but the value differences.

Tim’s two large shareholders could instead find a convergence on the plan for the division of the network, also appreciated by the government, to be pursued by following two possible options: withdrawal from the list through a takeover bid and then proceeding with the reorganisation, or keeping the company in Exchange in order to let the market set the value of the network. CDP could take control of the infrastructure, guaranteeing the government a solid grip, while the other assets would be enhanced through sales. Today, following the meeting between Cdp and Vivendi, a council of the telephone group will be held, which has on the agenda the co-option of a new director, on which there is no univocal orientation. Part of the board would like to keep out the name of Massimo Sarmi, current president of FiberCop, proposed by the French in a triad in which there would also be the jurist Roberto Ulissi, appreciated by Cdp. Several observers believe that the co-optation could serve to gauge the balance of power between the two major shareholders within Tim’s board, in view of the decisive match for the reorganisation.