INWIT shareholders explore take-private financing amid customer contract dispute

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INWIT take-private talks

Highlights

Ardian and Oak Holdings 1, which control a combined 71% of INWIT, are discussing bid financing with banks to buy out minority shareholders.
Mubadala is expected to participate in the INWIT bid, though deliberations are ongoing and neither Ardian, GIP, Vodafone, KKR, nor Mubadala have commented.
INWIT's market value has dropped about 27% year-over-year to $7.1 billion amid contract termination disputes with major customers TIM and Swisscom's Fastweb.

Financing plan and ownership structure

As first reported by Reuters, French private equity firm Ardian and Oak Holdings 1 are exploring a bid to buy out minority shareholders in INWIT, according to two people close to the matter. Oak Holdings 1 is backed by co-investors GIP, Vodafone and KKR.

Ardian controls 32% of INWIT, while Oak Holdings controls 39%. The investors are discussing bid financing with banks, the people said, and one of them added that Abu Dhabi investment firm Mubadala is expected to take a stake in INWIT as part of the plan.

The people said deliberations are still ongoing. Ardian, GIP, Vodafone, KKR and Mubadala declined to comment, while an INWIT spokesperson said the company does not have any information on the matter.

Dispute pressure and market backdrop

Takeover speculation around INWIT has been building since February, when a French media report said Ardian and Brookfield were interested in taking the Italian company private. INWIT listed in Milan in 2015 and has remained a strategic infrastructure asset in the country's telecom sector.

Since then, the company has become embroiled in a dispute with its two main customers, Telecom Italia, or TIM, and Swisscom's Fastweb. Both have initiated procedures to terminate their respective contracts with INWIT as part of efforts to renegotiate them on more favourable terms.

That uncertainty has weighed on the stock. INWIT's market value has fallen about 27% over the past year to $7.1 billion, or 6.3 billion euros, as of Friday's close, according to LSEG data.

Our earlier article on KKR’s FiberCop highlighted mounting strain on the Italy fixed-line network business after weaker-than-expected line volumes, high leverage, and growing friction with Telecom Italia over access terms. We noted that customer losses and an earnings catch-up challenge were complicating plans to position the asset for a potential flotation later in the decade, alongside broader political pressure around industry consolidation.

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