Telecom Italia facing moves from Prime Minister to corporatise telephone network
Matteo Renzi, the Italian Prime Minister, is drawing up plans to corporatise the fixed-line telephone network of Telecom Italia (TI), Italian language daily La Repubblica reported. The report cited political sources close to the government who said that turning the network into a corporate entity in its own right would have the same effect as spinning off the network.
The report noted that there has been talk over the last several years of spinning off the network.
The report noted that under the plans FSI, the strategic investment fund controlled by Italian holding Treasury holding CdP would have a 40% stake in the network, with the aim of increasing that to a majority over a three-year period. The report said that the network would then be open to outside investors, including foreign players.
The operation would not be launched in the near future, the item said.
The government would use so-called "golden power" legislation designed to protect strategic assets from foreign takeover as the basis for the operation, the paper added.
Source La Repubblica