MILAN/LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) – The leading shareholders in INWIT are arranging the financing for a potential take-private deal of Italy’s largest mobile telecom towers company, two people close to the matter said, amid a contractual dispute between the masts firm and its two main customers.
French private equity firm Ardian and investment vehicle Oak Holdings 1, the latter backed by co-investors GIP, Vodafone and KKR, are exploring a bid to buy out minority shareholders in INWIT, the people said.
Ardian controls 32% of INWIT, while Oak Holdings controls 39%.
The investors are discussing the financing of the bid with banks, the people said, with one person adding that Abu Dhabi investment firm Mubadala is expected to take a stake in INWIT as part of the plan.
The people cautioned that deliberations are still ongoing.
Ardian, GIP, Vodafone, KKR and Mubadala declined to comment. GIP is part of US investment firm Blackrock.
An INWIT spokesperson said the company did not have any information on the matter.
INWIT, which listed in Milan in 2015, has been the subject of takeover speculation since a French media report in February that infrastructure fund Ardian and investment group Brookfield were interested in taking the Italian company private.
INWIT has since then become embroiled in a dispute with its two main customers, Telecom Italia (TIM) and Swisscom’s Fastweb, both of which have initiated procedures to terminate their respective contracts with INWIT as part of efforts to renegotiate them on more favourable terms.
INWIT’s market value has fallen about 27% over the past year to $7.1 billion (€6.3 billion) as of Friday’s close, according to LSEG data.
(1 euro = $1.1201)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Valentina Za in Milan, and Amy-Jo Crowley in London; Additional reporting by Federico Maccioni in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Anousha Sakoui and David Holmes)
