Telecom Italia is willing to sell another sizeable stake in its INWIT towers business, but it is keen to retain a 15%-20% holding and a representative on the company’s board of directors, it emerged this week.
The Italian incumbent’s CEO Marco Patuano passed on that information to reporters at an event in Rome on Tuesday, according to Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore.
Telecom Italia currently holds 60% of Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane (INWIT), having carried out an IPO in July. Patuano’s comments suggest it is therefore willing to sell off another 40%-45%.
Essentially, Telecom Italia is keen to maintain a stake in INWIT, or in the new company that emerges if its ends up as part of a merger, the paper said.
The telco is "on the home straight" when it comes to receiving expressions of interest in the towers business, it quoted Patuano as saying.
In September the Telecom Italia board charged Patuano with looking into ways to extract value from INWIT.
At the time the operator said it had seen strong interest in the business, but insisted it was keeping its options open.
There has been speculation about the possible identities of interested parties. Spain’s Cellnex was named as a likely buyer, but both it and Telecom Italia denied that rumour.
