Vitale & Co. advised TIM Group on sale of a minority stake in the fiber and copper secondary network to KKR

TIM Group (“TIM”), leading player in the field of telecommunication and related infrastructure, approved the agreement with KKR Infrastructure (“KKR”) and Fastweb for the establishment of FiberCop, the NewCo to which TIM’s secondary network will be transferred along with the fiber network developed by FlashFiber (special purpose entity owned by TIM and Fastweb).

TIM has accepted the binding offer of €1.8 billion from KKR for a total consideration of ca. €7.7 billion of Enterprise Value (Equity Value of ca. €4.7 billion).

TIM will hold a stake of 58%, while KKR and Fastweb will own 37.5% and 4.5% of FiberCop respectively.

FiberCop will offer passive access services of the secondary copper and fiber networks to all operators, relying on the fiber infrastructure already installed by FlashFiber, without any duplication of investments and at the same time promoting competition and the free market.

The agreement with KKR and Fastweb is the first step towards creating an Italian digital fiber network company: FiberCop will allow TIM, Fastweb and other operators to co-invest, completing the fiber coverage plans in black and grey areas of the country and speeding up the adoption of Ultra-Broadband (UBB) services. The objective is to reach 76% of grey and black area property units, equating to coverage of a total of 56% of the country’s technical property units, by 2025.

Vitale acted as financial advisor of TIM Group, providing assistance in the economic and financial analyses, origination of the transaction and definition of the structure and the terms, management of due diligence activities, negotiations and definition of the agreement with the counterpart, cooperation with legal consultants in the revision, negotiation and definition of the legal documentation.

Vitale & Co. advised TIM Group on sale of a minority stake in the fiber and copper secondary network to KKR