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French businessman has no direct or indirect shares or options relating to Italian incumbent, NJJ Holding states.
Xavier Niel no longer holds any shares or options relating to Telecom Italia, his investment company categorically declared this week.
The French businessman’s NJJ Holding company issued a statement to that effect on Wednesday, in line with commitments Niel made with regard to the potential entry of Iliad – the telecoms company of which he is majority owner – into the Italian market.
"NJJ Holding states that neither it nor Xavier Niel holds, directly or indirectly any shares or options relating to
Telecom Italia," the short publication read.
The company did not provide any further details.
Earlier this month, Niel reduced his potential stake in Telecom Italia – held via NJJ Holding’s Rock Investment unit – to 6.954% from over 15%, according to a recent filing from Italian financial markets regulator Consob.
There has been no further announcement from Consob.
Niel made headlines last year by building up a long position in Telecom Italia, but three weeks ago committed to selling what amounted to a "marginal financial interest" in the Italian incumbent as part of a deal that should see Iliad become a facilities-based competitor in the Italian mobile market.
Iliad has agreed to acquire a portfolio of assets from CK Hutchison’s 3 Italia and VimpelCom’s Wind, provided they get the regulatory go-ahead for their planned merger.
Hutchison and VimpelCom agreed to merge their Italian businesses via a €21.8 billion deal in August last year and are now waiting for the green light from the European Commission, which many expect to come imminently. The deal with Iliad has likely smoothed the way, with the Commission having previously demonstrated that it believes the way to ensure competition is by maintaining the established number of mobile network operators in a particular market. Iliad’s arrival means there will still be four network operators in Italy even in the event of the Wind/3 Italia tie-up.
Iliad will acquire spectrum and mobile base stations from the merged entity, in addition to agreeing a roaming deal that will enable it to use 3 Italia/Wind’s 2G, 3G and 4G networks.
