By Elvira Pollina
MILAN (Reuters) -Shareholders of Italian broadcasting tower operators Rai Way and EI Towers are set to extend talks on a potential merger beyond a September 30 deadline, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
A tie-up between Milan-listed Rai Way, controlled by public broadcaster RAI, and EI Towers, owned by Italian infrastructure fund F2i and Italy’s top commercial broadcaster MFE-MediaForEurope, has been on investors’ radar for nearly a decade.
A combination of the two businesses would create an Italian TV tower leader worth nearly 4 billion euros ($4.72 billion), including debt.
The talks stem from a non-binding memorandum of understanding signed in December 2024, which included an exclusivity period expiring at the end of September.
The sources said on Tuesday that state-owned RAI needs more time to assess a potential deal and parties are discussing an extension of the memorandum ranging from three to six months.
RAI, F2i, MFE all declined to comment.
According to an analysis carried out in recent months, a Rai Way-EI Towers merger would generate benefits above 10% of their combined cost base of 200 million euro, the three sources and a fourth person said.
Last year, Rome approved a decree stating that any cut in RAI’s stake in its tower unit must be pursued through a combination of entities in the same sector.
The decree confirmed an existing obligation for Treasury-owned RAI, which owns 65% of Rai Way, to maintain at least a 30% stake in its tower business, which would remain listed.
($1 = 0.8472 euros)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Alvise Armellini and Richard Chang)
