Telecom Italia approached by private equity firms over joint offer for Oi
Telecom Italia (TI) has been approached by two private equity firms over making a joint bid for Oi, the Brazilian phone operator, Italian language daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. The unsourced report said that TI had been approached by Apax and Bain Capital over the matter.
The report said that the bid would take place via Tim Brasil, TI's mobile phone subsidiary in Brazil.
The report said that PT Portugal, Oi's Portuguese subsidiary, would be sold at a later date if the bid was successful. The report said that the sale of the Portuguese arm of Oi would help to keep down the amount of debt needed to carry out a takeover and make a successive merger with Tim Brasil easier to carry out.
The report said that TI would hold a 51% stake in the merged entity.
The report noted that Oi presently has a binding offer for PT Portugal from French cable group Altice valued at EUR 6.2bn. The report claimed that once Oi sells the asset it will use the funds to launch its own bid on Tim Brasil.
Source Il Sole 24 Ore