Vivendi may become leading Telecom Italia shareholder under Tim Brasil/GVT merger plans
Vivendi, the French telecoms and media group, could become the largest shareholder in Telecom Italia, Italian-language daily Il Messaggero reported.
The unsourced item noted that Vivendi in the medium term would take the 7.6% stake in TI held by Generali, Mediobanca and Intesa Sanpaolo.
The report said that prior to Vivendi taking a stake in TI, a merger would take place between Tim Brasil, the Brazilian mobile telco owned by TI, and GVT, the Brazilian telecoms unit owned by Vivendi.
The proposal was outlined yesterday 13 March by TI's advisor on the matter, Mediobanca at a meeting between TI's CEO Marco Patuano and Vivendi chairman Vincent Bollore, the article added.
The report said that the plan would aim to use TI's international presence to develop Vivendi's media content.
TI's proposal is competing with a EUR 6.7bn offer for GVT from the Spanish telco Telefonica, presently TI's largest shareholder. The report further noted that Vivendi is likely to take its time on making a choice between the two offers and is, therefore, likely to ask Telefonica to extend its offer deadline from the present 3 September.
A report in Italian-language daily Il Sole 24 Ore cited unspecified sources who claimed that Telefonica could be willing to sell its entire 14.8% stake in TI to Vivendi. The article said that this was because its offer for GVT means that there is no longer any strategic in it holding the stake. The sale would also resolve antitrust issues in the Brazilian market, the item added.
Source Il Messaggero, Il Sole 24 Ore