by Foo Yun Chee and Elvira Pollina
BRUSSELS/MILAN (Reuters) – U.S. investment firm KKR is close to obtaining approval from the European Commission for its acquisition of Telecom Italia’s (TIM) fixed-line network, people familiar with the matter said.
According to these sources, KKR has agreed to maintain commercial contracts in place with TIM’s competitors.
With this 22 billion euro operation, it will be the first time that one of the main telecommunications groups of a large European country has sold its fixed network, which could encourage other operators to follow suit. .
KKR did not propose remedies on Thursday, the filing deadline, according to the European Commission website.
The European executive, in charge of competition issues, had set May 30 as the deadline for its preliminary examination.
KKR declined to comment.
According to sources, KKR and Telecom Italia’s competitors have been negotiating with difficulty for several weeks to maintain the conditions and prices of their existing contracts. These contracts were put in place after the creation of FiberCop, the company which manages Telecom Italia’s fixed telephone network.
An agreement on this issue would ease the EU’s concerns without KKR having to offer remedies, according to the sources.
They said the companies were still in talks to finalize a deal.
TIM’s fixed network covers almost 89% of Italian homes and its fiber optic and copper cables extend over 23 million kilometers.
The company is selling the network as part of a debt reduction plan backed by the Italian government.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Elvira Pollina in Rome; French version Pauline Foret, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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