In addition, TIM’s Risk Management Committee will first assess the financial situation of the group on the 25th.
On November 22, Telecom Italia received a non-binding offer from the US PE giant KKR to privatize the largest Italian telecom group.
KKR Group (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., referred to as KKR) is an established leveraged buyout king, one of the most successful industrial investment institutions in financial history, and one of the world’s oldest and most experienced private equity investment institutions.
It is understood that KKR is particularly good at management buyouts. KKR’s investors mainly include corporate and public pension funds, financial institutions, insurance companies, and university funds. In the past 30 years, KKR has completed a total of 146 private equity investments with a total transaction value of more than $263 billion.
According to the announcement, KKR’s offer for a 100% stake in Telecom Italia Group is 10.8 billion euros. Together with the company’s existing net debt, the total purchase offer is close to 33 billion euros.
It is worth mentioning that if the acquisition is completed, this will be the largest tender offer in Europe so far.
TIM’s largest shareholder, French media group-Vivendi (Vivendi) has been promoting the replacement of the head of TIM. Since July, Vivendi has issued profit warnings twice, and these warnings have strengthened Vivendi’s determination to change the helm.
Vivendi comes from France and is one of the world’s largest media groups. Universal Music, the world’s largest music company, belongs to Vivendi.
The predecessor of Vivendi was the General Water Company, which was founded in 1853. It was involved in the communications and media industry in 1983 and was renamed “Vivendi” in 1998.
In December 2000, acquired Canal+televisionInternet, Universal Pictures, etc., established Vivendi Universal Entertainment (Vivendi Universal Entertainment).
Today, Vivendi Global is the world’s second largest online group after AOL Time Warner, with a total of 80,000 permanent employees and an annual revenue of 25 billion US dollars. Mainly divided into five major business groups: film and television, publishing, music, telecommunications and network.
Like KKR, Vivendi is also known for being better at acquisitions, and gamers may have heard its name-Vivendi once acquired the famous game company Blizzard.
The TIM board of directors will decide whether to allow private equity giants headed by KKR to conduct pre-acquisition due diligence, and the appointment of consultants will assist in handling relevant acquisition proposals.
Relevant sources said that if Vivendi successfully eliminates Gubitosi, KKR’s acquisition will become uncertain.