Consortium Buys Control of Italy’s Phone Giant

CONSORTIUM BUYS CONTROL OF ITALY'S PHONE GIANT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Victoria Burnett and Peter Kiefer]
Telefónica of Spain and a group of Italian investors agreed on Saturday to pay 4.1 billion euros ($5.6 billion) for a controlling 18 percent stake in Telecom Italia, allowing the Spanish telecommunications giant to expand into the Italian market and extend its presence in Latin America. The deal ends months of speculation about the future of Telecom Italia, whose suitors had included AT&T, and it represents a setback for Telefónica’s arch rival América Móvil, owned by the Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helú. Despite the involvement of Telefónica, the deal also appears to maintain the Italian-majority ownership of the country’s former monopoly phone company.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30telecom.html
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* Telefónica Wins Telecom Italia Stake, Not Control
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