Bloomberg
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s biggest company, may consider other options to bolster its telecommunications assets in Italy after talks to merge with Telecom Italia SpA’s wireless business were put on hold, the head of its local unit said.
The number of wireless carriers in Italy will eventually drop to three from four, said Vincenzo Novari, chief executive officer of Hutchison’s 3 Italia, the country’s smallest operator. The executive said he wouldn’t rule out a potential revival of a deal with Telecom Italia, or with Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, a unit of VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP)
“In Italy Hutchison Whampoa will be a buyer not a seller,” Novari said in an interview after a meeting with regulators in Rome this week. “Discussions with Telecom Italia have now stopped, but who knows what happens in the fall?”
3 Italia, valued at as much as 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion), said this month it wouldn’t be in a position to win approval from its parent to pursue a combination with Telecom Italia, which would widen the Milan-based carrier’s lead over Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) in Italy. Hutchison was concerned about the shareholder structure of a potential transaction and Telecom Italia’s debt, which may weigh on its own debt rating, Novari said.