© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Telecom Italia (TIM) logo is seen in this illustration taken May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
MILAN (Reuters) – telecommunications italy (BIT:) (TIM) directors on Sunday gave the green light to a multibillion-dollar sale of the telecoms group’s prized national fixed-line access network to U.S. fund KKR, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Backed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s conservative administration, the deal is a key element of TIM CEO Pietro Labriola’s plan to revive the debt-laden, junk-rated former telephone monopoly.
The board began a review of the offer on Friday and met again on Sunday to deliberate. 11 of the 14 directors who attended the meeting voted in favor of KKR’s proposal, sources said.
Telecom Italia declined to comment.
Based on TIM’s final review of KKR’s offer, the proposal values TIM’s landline at €22 billion ($24 billion), when including some future payments if a long-awaited combination of TIM’s network with that of its state-backed fiber optic rival, Open Fiber.
(1 dollar = 0.9321 euros)
