Telecom Italia attracts interest of private equity
Telecom Italia (TI), the listed telco, has attracted the interest of private equity, the Italian language daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported, citing market rumours.
The report said that Apax, Bain Capital, Blackstone and KKR are looking at the TI dossier on the advice of investment banks. The report added that all the PE firms looking at the dossier already specialise in investing in the telecoms sector.
The report said that there are as yet no negotiations on the matter.
The item noted that the PE firms are interested in TI because it is becoming a real public company with no controlling shareholder. However, the item noted that any investment by PE would have to take political factors into account, given that TI owns Italy's national telecommunications network.
TI has a market cap of 19.13bn
Il Sole 24 Ore