MILAN (Reuters) – Poste Italiane and French telecoms group Iliad are both valid M&A options for Telecom Italia (TIM), the CEO of the former Italian phone monopoly, Pietro Labriola, said in a conference call on Thursday.
“From an industrial point of view, as we already said in 2022, Iliad or Poste are the only possibilities for a consolidation,” Labriola said.
“We have no preferences,” he added.
State-backed Poste is expected to hold a board meeting over the weekend to discuss the terms of a potential investment in Telecom Italia, three sources close to the matter told Reuters.
Under the scheme being examined, Poste would invest in TIM by taking the 9.8% stake currently held by state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).
Poste offers phone services through its Poste Mobile unit.
Reuters reported last week that Iliad was exploring a tie-up of its Italian unit with Telecom Italia and had met top Italian government officials to inform them of its intentions.
In Thursday’s call, Labriola said consolidation was essential to fix the Italian telecoms sector, where fierce competition has thinned out operators’ profit margins.
The TIM CEO said he saw the possibility of upside on the group’s outlook linked to potential consolidation in the sector and a more favourable exchange rate in Brazil, where TIM operates through its listed subsidiary TIM Brasil.
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, writing by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones)
