Shareholders of Telco, will reportedly be able to sell their shares from early next week, after last month’s decision by Argentine regulators to clear the break-up of Telecom Italia’s holdco.
The four investors – Spain’s Telefonica, Generali,…
Shareholders of Telco, will reportedly be able to sell their shares from early next week, after last month’s decision by Argentine regulators to clear the break-up of Telecom Italia’s holdco.
The four investors – Spain’s Telefonica, Generali, Intesa San Paolo and Mediobanca − agreed to dissolve Telco and divest their combined 22.4% stake last year.
Telefonica will transfer its 8.3% voting rights to French media group Vivendi as part-payment for its €7.5bn acquisition of Brazilian broadband provider GVT.
As a result of Telco’s break-up, Vivendi will become Telecom Italia’s largest shareholder.
Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine recently described the company’s stake in the Rome-based incumbent as “opportunistic”, adding that the group saw the stake as a way to de-risk the transaction from currency impact, and “an opportunity to create a link with the company”.
Inwit-Cellnex merger would benefit TI − analyst
TI launched the IPO of its tower spin-off Inwit last week and said it would use the proceeds to reduce its debt burden and speed up nationwide fibre deployment for both fixed and mobile applications, and also to pursue potential M&A opportunities.
Jonathan Dann, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, believes that while an IPO is an attractive option, M&A could be better still.
In his view, TI could generate substantial additional value by combining Inwit with Cellnex Telecom, the towerco listed last month by Abertis.
“A trade sale to Cellnex capturing an upfront bid premium and share of future synergies and expansion by retaining a stake in the newco could generate €600m above those of a simple IPO on our estimates,” he said.
He estimated that 5,000 of Inwit’s 11,500 towers overlap with Cellnex, providing substantial scope for site rationalisation, especially when combined with Inwit’s own organic growth plans.
