Vivendi Says KKR’s Bid for Telecom Italia Is Too Low

(Bloomberg) -- Vivendi SE, Telecom Italia SpA’s largest shareholder, said it’s not opposed to KKR & Co. bidding for the Italian phone operator, but that the current 10.8 billion-euro ($12.2 billion) offer is too low.

The bid “doesn’t reflect the core value of Telecom Italia,” an Italy-based spokeswoman for Vivendi said in a statement to Bloomberg News.

The U.S. private equity giant made a “nonbinding and indicative” cash offer of 50.5 euro cents a share for Telecom Italia, a 46% premium to Friday’s closing price.

The private equity firm’s bid, characterized as friendly, could just be the beginning of a fight to control the company and the former Italian monopoly’s most precious asset: the landline network. Separately, two other private equity funds, Advent International Corp. and CVC Capital Partners, said they’re open to work with all stakeholders to identify how to help Telecom Italia.

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