KKR & Co. has reached out to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund as it seeks co-investors to join its proposed acquisition of Telecom Italia SpA, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Sovereign wealth funds are increasingly playing an important role supporting private equity firms on large takeover bids. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Singapore’s GIC Pte backed the more than $30 billion acquisition of Medline Industries Inc. last year by a group of buyout firms.
KKR made a preliminary takeover proposal for Telecom Italia in November valued at about 10.8 billion euros ($12.2 billion). The private equity firm said last month that it’s pursuing a friendly bid and wants to work to gain the board’s support for its offer.
Telecom Italia has picked Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and LionTree to advise on KKR’s proposal, as well as to explore alternatives. New York-based KKR faces a big hurdle in the form of France’s Vivendi SE, Telecom Italia’s largest investor, which has said it’s in for the long haul and has no plans to sell its stake.
Read more/Source: BNN Bloomberg
