Italy joins KKR's €23 billion bid for Telecom Italia assets
- Dan Primack, author of Axios Pro Rata
Photo by Emanuele Cremasch via Getty Images.
U.S. private equity firm KKR is cutting the Italian government in on its €23 billion preliminary bid for Telecom Italia's landline network.
Why it matters: This show of political support from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will make it much tougher for Vivendi, Telecom Italia's largest outside shareholder, to block the deal.
Details: The Italian government, which has the right to reject such a transaction, would receive up to a 20% stake in the post-acquisition business.
More, per Bloomberg: "The announcement [is] Meloni's second surprise intervention in a week after she imposed a windfall tax on banks ... Meloni has signaled that she considers Telecom Italia's network a strategic asset that must retain a degree of public oversight."