Here we are: for Tim the moment of truth has arrived. The deadline for the US fund is set for tomorrow, Friday 9 June kkr and the competing consortium formed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Macquarie will have to present the improved offers for the network, the sale of which is considered essential by the group's managing director Pietro Labriola to reduce the 26 billion euro debt weighing on the former monopolist.
Rete Tim: the summary of the previous episodes
Last month Kkr put 21 billion euros on the plate (of which 2 from earn outs), CDP and the Macquarie fund offered instead 19,3 billion euros for Tim's access network (from power stations to homes) and the company that manages the Sparkle submarine cables. The initial Cdp-Macquarie offer also included another important element: the integration of Tim's network with that of Open Fiber. A plan which, however, seems destined to run aground also due to some legal concerns expressed by the Australian fund which, according to Reuters, called Cassa Depositi to comply with some clauses included in the Open Fiber shareholders' agreements, which would complicate Cassa's adhesion to the Kkr offer at this stage.
Neither of the two offers, in any case, was deemed "fair" by the I recommend Tim and neither of them reaches the evaluation deemed adequate by Vivendi, the first shareholder of the group led by Pietro Labriola, who would be willing to let go of the network for around 31 billion euros, a figure considered by many to be out of the market.
Rete Tim: towards the raises of Kkr and Cdp-Macquarie
According to some sources cited by Reuters, the offers that both consortiums will present on Friday will increase the amount offered "in a limited way", with Cdp which will also propose some corrective measures aimed at responding to the critical issues raised by Tim on the Antitrust issue.
At this point, to understand what the fate of the Tim network will be, we will have to wait for 19nd June, the day on which the company's board of directors will meet for an initial examination of the offers received. A second meeting of the board is already planned, scheduled for 22nd June, who will make a decision on the matter and who, according to Reuters, could also grant a period of exclusivity.
Of the match is also part the government which, for its part, wants to ensure the strategic supervision of the network, the main Italian telecommunications infrastructure.
KKR, which already has a minority stake in Tim's network, has left the door open for the Executive to hold a minority stake in the infrastructure. Not to be forgotten either the "golden power" option that the government can use to set conditions or block attempts to acquire strategic assets such as Tim's network.
The Economist promotes Labriola: "The unbundling of the network is the real industrial game"
For Tim, the spin-off of the fixed network is an industrial choice rather than a financial one. This was underlined in an editorial by the British weekly The Economist.
The newspaper is not soft on Italy to which it attributes "chaotic standards" but promotesto Pietro Labriola: the sale of the fixed network, which is expected to yield over 20 billion euros, is "the clearest way to regain industrial options" and "if more European operators follow Tim's example and separate their fixed networks from their other assets, as seems probable, this 'separation' could, ironically, be the first step towards consolidation”.
Updated June 9, 2023 at 11:38 am
