MILAN (Reuters) – KKR remains interested in taking over Telecom Italia, the U.S. investment firm said in a letter to the Italian phone group this week, adding it had held “positive exchanges” with Italian authorities on the matter, two people close to the matter said.
In the letter which Telecom Italia (TIM) will examine on Thursday, KKR also said it was open to discussing with TIM a potential integration of the group’s fixed-line assets with those of state-backed rival Open Fiber, the sources said.
While a merger of Open Fiber was not part of KKR’s original plans for TIM, the New York-based fund is ready to discuss with TIM the antitrust implications of a such a deal and how it can create value for TIM’s unit FiberCop in which KKR is already an investor, the sources said.
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; writing by Valentina Za; Editing by Keith Weir)