Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday the government is "working" on the part-privatisation of Italian telecom giant TIM but that "it is very complex".
"We are working on it, it is a very complex dossier, we are working on it," said Meloni in reply to a question on the recent nervous market reaction to the approval and subsequent confirmation by TIM of its 2024-2026 business guidance that includes the sale of its landline grid NetCo to American fundKKR as part of efforts to bring down its debts, which currently add up to around 26 billion euros.
Last Thursday shares in the company plummeted 24% on the Milanstock market following the unanimous approval of its 'Free toRun' plan the day before.
However, CEO Pietro Labriola and advisors told an extraordinary board meeting on Sunday that the plan could not be considered responsible for the crash and could go ahead.
Before the start of trading on Monday, TIM then issued a newmarket communication saying it expected "its pro-forma net debt, after the Netco transaction, to be around 7.5 billion euro at the end of 2024" and "net cash flow to be around zero in 2025and around 500 million euros in 2026, normalized to 800 million".
The share price subsequently rose by 2.2% to 0.227 euros on early trading only to fall by 7.7% to 0.20 euros, taking it to December2022 levels.
Under the NetCo sale transaction that could reach 22 billion euros, the Italian State is to take a stake of up to 20% in the grid, which is considered strategic infrastructure.
However, French media group Vivendi, TIM's biggest stakeholder, is against the sale, claiming the grid is worth much more, and it has vowed to "use all legal means available" to reverse TIM's "illegal" decision.
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