“The idea of the need for an industrial shareholder has had its day: you don't need an industrial shareholder, but an industrial project”: only then, eventually, will it be possible to think of “a new shareholder”. This was stated by the executive chairman of Telecom Italia, Franco Bernabè, on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Workshop.
"Telecom does not need someone to teach the men and women of the group what to do - he added -, because it is a company at the forefront of telecommunications at an international level". To those who asked him about possible new financial partners, Bernabè limited himself to replying: "We have already given".
In any case, the Chairman stressed that Telecom "is not an object of exchange, sale or purchase" and in any alliance with new shareholders it must have "equal dignity".
Bernabè thus extinguishes speculation on the possible shareholding reorganization of the group which in the past five trading sessions have allowed the Telecom stock to gain 25% (+8,39% only yesterday). At the beginning of the afternoon, the company's shares, affected by the profits, lost around 3% to Piazza Affari.
In recent days there has been talk of the interest of various groups: from the American At&T to Carlos Slim's America Movil, from the Spanish Telefonica to the Egyptian entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris.
Telefonica, in reality, is already in the capital of Telecom, having in its pocket 46% of Telco, the holding which in turn controls 22,4% of the Italian company. The hypothesis in this case is that the Spanish operator acquires the shares of the Italian shareholders of Telco (Generali has 30,6%, Mediobanca and Intesa 11,5% each).
The next Telecom board meeting will be held on 19 September.
