By Gilles Castonguay
MILAN--Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris has made an offer to
invest in Telecom Italia SpA (TI, TIA, TIT.MI), Italy's former
telecommunications operator monopoly, according to one person
familiar with the situation Sunday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the person confirmed a
report published Saturday by Corriere della Sera, a leading Italian
daily, which said Telecom Italia's board was presented with Mr.
Sawaris's expression of interest by the operator's chairman, Franco
Bernabe, on Thursday when it met to approve the latest quarterly
results.
Although a price wasn't included in the expression of interest,
the newspaper said Mr. Sawiris could be interested in investing
between four billion euros ($5.1 billion) and EUR5 billion. The
newspaper didn't name its sources.
Telecom Italia wasn't immediately available for comment.
An official who represents Mr. Sawiris declined to comment.
Mr. Sawiris is familiar with Italy's telecommunications
market.
Through Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding (ORSTF, ORTE.CE), he ran
Wind Telecommunicazioni SpA, one of the country's main mobile phone
services operator, before selling most of it to Russia's VimpelCom
Ltd. (VIP) in 2011.
Mr. Bernabe has been working on paying down Telecom Italia's
enormous debt with the sale of assets like Telecom Italia Media
(TIAMY, TME.MI), and he confirmed the aim to reduce it to EUR27.5
billion by the end of the year from EUR29.48 billion on Sept.
30.
He is also considering spinning off the operator's fixed-line
network.
In the third quarter, Telecom Italia's net profit fell 13.4% to
EUR681 million on lower revenue of EUR7.27 billion because of the
weak economy in Italy and a slowdown in Latin America, where the
operator has a presence, especially in Brazil.
Telecom Italia is controlled by Telco with a 22.4% stake.
Holding company Telco has as its shareholders Italian banks
Mediobanca SpA (MDIBY, MB.MI) and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISNPY,
ISP.MI), insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA (G.MI) and Spanish
phone company Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC).
--Matt Bradley in Cairo contributed to this article.
Write to Gilles Castonguay at gilles.castonguay@dowjones.com;
Twitter: @GRCastonguay
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