Telecom Italia Core Shareholders Renew Pact - Report
October 17 2009 - 10:38AM
Dow Jones News
Telecom Italia SpA's (TIT.MI) core shareholders have agreed to
renew their pact for another three years, business daily Il Sole 24
Ore reported Saturday.
The agreement would end speculation about the fate of Telefonica
SA (TEF.MC) as the biggest single shareholder in the Italian
telecommunications giant.
After intense talks held this week, Telefonica and the four
other core shareholders agreed to renew their pact when it expires
in April 2010, the daily said without identifying its sources.
The shareholders, which together own a holding company called
Telco that has a 24.5% stake in Telecom Italia, were to come to an
agreement by Oct. 28. Insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA (G.MI),
bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), merchant bank Mediobanca SpA (MB.MI)
and the Benetton family are the other four shareholders.
One of the conditions to the pact's renewal was to grant
shareholders the right to leave the pact after 18 months of its
renewal, the daily said.
Through Telco, Telefonica has a 10% indirect stake in Telecom
Italia.
Recent news reports had spoken about the shareholders being
dissatisfied with Telecom Italia's performance and accusing
Telefonica for doing nothing about it.
Italian politicians had also raised fears about a foreign
company having control over the country's fixed-line network run by
Telecom Italia because they considered it a strategic asset.
Telefonica has repeatedly said its stake in Telecom Italia is
part of a long-term industrial alliance.
-Gilles Castonguay, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 02 5821-9908;
gilles.castonguay@dowjones.com