Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is prepared to invest US$1bn-US$2bn in Telecom Italia (TI) if Spain’s Telefonica exits its investment.
Sawiris, who made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire a stake in the Italian incumbent in 2012, told Italian…
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is prepared to invest US$1bn-US$2bn in Telecom Italia (TI) if Spain’s Telefonica exits its investment.
Sawiris, who made an unsuccessful attempt to acquire a stake in the Italian incumbent in 2012, told Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that he will wait to see what Telefonica decides to do with its stake before making a move.
“I will have to be patient for a few months,” he said.
The Spanish incumbent is the leading investor in Telco, TI’s largest shareholder with a 22.4% stake. The three Italian financial organisations also part of Telco have signalled that they may exit their investments shortly.
Telefonica’s investment in TI has posed problems in Brazil, where the two operators are invested in the nation’s two largest mobile operators: Vivo and TIM Brasil. The Brazilian antitrust regulator has told Telefonica that it must either reduce its stake in Telco or find a new partner to take control of Vivo.
Meanwhile, it has been speculated that TIM Brasil may be broken up and its assets distributed among rival operators. The situation does not look like it will be resolved ahead of Brazil’s planned spectrum auction, set to take place in August.
In 2012, Sawiris said he was prepared to invest up to €3bn in TI but his offer was rejected by the company’s board. In September 2013, the billionaire said he was reconsidering a potential investment in TI but Telefonica subsequently agreed to increase its stake in the Italian carrier via Telco.
In the Il Sole interview, Sawiris said it would not make sense for TI to sell its Brazilian asset as doing so would reduce it to a purely local operator.
TI is working on a €4bn (US$5.56bn) plan to cut debt and generally improve its balance sheet. The company’s shareholders are set to meet on Wednesday (16 April) to appoint a new chairperson and board of directors.
