Over the weekend the boards of directors of Poste Italiane and CDP they signed one stock exchange of their respective shares in Tim and Nexi: Post acquires 9,81% of Tim da CDP and in exchange it gives up 3,78% of its shares in nexi in addition to a sum of money which is estimated, according to some sources, to be just under 180 million.
The opportunity is there on both sides, as the companies explain in their respective press releases. For Poste, the operation has a strong industrial value: the acquisition of 9,81% of Tim from Cdp “enables the evolution of commercial relations between Tim and Poste Italiane,” says the note. “In this regard, negotiations are at an advanced stage for the provision of services for access by Postepay, a company wholly owned by Poste Italiane, to Tim’s mobile network infrastructure.”
Italian post, with his strong state component and already within the telecommunications sector with Poste Mobile,, thus increases its role as industrial actor in Tim, instead of a financial and institutional protagonist such as CDP.
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti by increasing its share in Nexi from the current 14,46% to a total of 18,25%, the note says, it strengthens "its support for the industrial strategy of a leading company in Europe in thedigital payments infrastructure, which has had Cassa at its side since its inception four years ago,” the note says.
Telecom Italia, led by Pietro Labriola, presented this week the 2024 results, the first ones without the network anymore, and he proposed the return to shareholder remuneration in the 2025-2027 industrial plan. During the presentation Labriola spoke of one or more virtual operators with which to establish agreements in 2026 to replace the outgoing Fastweb, which will rely on the recently acquired Vodafone network.
As a consequence of the new arrangement, observers identify new agreements between Poste and Tim. The first could be the passage of Poste Mobile from Vodafone's network to Tim's. But then someone hypothesizes a better use of the widespread network of Post Office counters where you can sell telecommunications services or other services.
Tomorrow, new board of directors of Tim with the Kuwait dossier and the market test
Tim, which in October passed the second round to build a fibre optic network in Kuwait, must decide whether to proceed with the tender. The dossier will be on the table of the board of directors tomorrow, convened again, after the one on February 12 that approved the accounts and the plan. According to press leaks, the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (Kapp) is supervising the project that aims to establish a partnership between the public and private sectors to bring fiber coverage to over 90% of the territory.
There are also other topics on the agenda tomorrow, “miscellaneous and eventuali” including, according to some sources, the organizational structure, the remuneration policy, the audit and the statutory amendments.
We will also see how investors of the title Tim will react to the Cdp-Poste operation. On Friday the stock recorded a 7,6% drop, closing at 0,275 euros, due to profit taking after the run up to 0,31 euros in the previous days
What will the CVC fund and the French Vivendi do now?
And then there is the chapter of the Cvc fund and Vivendì, the holding of the Bolloré family, which were very close to an agreement that would have allowed Vivendi to exit Tim and CVC to marry Tim with Iliad. But the maneuver by Cdp and Poste has shuffled the cards.
We will have to see what the move will be. French which could be revealed at the April meeting. Labriola said last week that “the current relations are positive and professional and I hope for greater dialogue between the company’s shareholders to allow for the improvement of the company’s numbers and operations”. The CEO then underlined that the French are an “extremely rational” shareholder. Looking at the progress of discussions since my appointment, their attitudes have always been serious and professional, with the utmost respect for both their role as shareholders and their proper needs to protect their shareholders”. In the coming days, however, “we will resume contact”.
Iliad, of the billionaire, Xavier Niel however has not yet got the marriage between
Iliad Italia and Tim. The Tim-Iliad merger, according to Bloomberg estimates, could generate 800 million in synergies, but would be subject to potential antitrust problems especially in the mobile sector.
