ROME (Reuters) – State-backed financial conglomerate Poste Italiane has decided to buy the stake in Telecom Italia (TIM) held by state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), it said in a statement on Saturday.
In offloading its 9.8% TIM shareholding to Poste, CDP will buy Poste’s 3.78% stake in Italian payments group Nexi.
Reuters reported earlier this week that Poste Italiane is considering a potential investment in Telecom Italia as the former phone monopoly has been drawing interest from rival Iliad and private equity fund CVC Capital Partners.
Poste, which offers mobile phone services through Poste Mobile, would partly pay for the Telecom Italia stake through the sale of its entire stake in Nexi with the rest being covered by cash on hand, Poste said its statement.
Its payment technology unit, Postepay is separately in advanced negotiations with TIM for access to its mobile network infrastructure, Poste added in its statement.
“The operation represents an investment of a strategic nature, with the aim of creating synergies between the companies and favouring, with all the players involved, the consolidation of the telecommunications market in Italy,” Poste said.
Earlier this month, TIM CEO Pietro Labriola told analysts during a post-results conference call that Poste Italiane is a valid M&A options for Telecom Italia to consolidate the Italian telecoms market.
Stiff price competition has long been eroding operators’ profit margins in Italian telecoms and curbing their ability to make necessary investment, hence the need for consolidation.
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni, editing by Deepa Babington and Alistair Bell)
