The American Fund Kkr demonstrates interest in the TIM group, by proposing a “friendly and non-binding” public tender offer (takeover bid) of € 0.505 per share. The interest of the Americans does fly the stock on the stock exchange, while the Government “takes note” of the interest and evaluates all possible scenarios.
The Kkr Fund presents a friendly takeover bid to buy TIM
The president of the TIM telephone group, Salvatore Rossi, brought the interest of the Kkr Fund to the board of directors, to decide how to behave. Kkr’s ‘friendly’ public offer has meanwhile raised the value of the shares to 0.42 euros, a 22.8% increase in Piazza Affari.
The offer presented to TIM is “non-binding and indicative“, But points to buy 100% of the shares of the group and proceed with the ‘delisting’, thus removing it from the stock exchange. But before launching the actual takeover bid, Kkr would like a “confirmatory due diligence with an estimated duration of four weeks”. Furthermore, it remains to be evaluated whether the Italian government exercises the “Golden Power”, blocking the agreement for strategic rather than economic interests.
The Ministry of Economy takes time to reflect. In fact, he wants to “ensure that these projects are compatible with the quick completion of the ultra-broadband connection, according to what is prefigured in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, with the necessary investments in the development of the infrastructure, and with the safeguarding and growth of employment “.
The Kkr Fund has quote in FiberCop, the TIM company that takes care of bringing the ‘last mile’ of optical fiber to Italian companies and homes. So he knows the strategic importance of TIM in our country and expects strict controls from the government.
Economic and strategic unknowns
Vivendi, TIM’s majority shareholder, according to some analysts would like to raise the takeover bid price, bringing it closer to the euro per share (we are talking about figures of around 83 cents per share). However, the offer of Kkr increases by 60% the value of the stock compared to the € 0.34 price it had last Friday. A value in line with agreements of this type.
There are still many unknowns, with economic but also strategic interests to be evaluated in the coming days. We will keep you informed.