Tim: Poste buys shares on the market and increases its stake to 86.9 per cent

Poste Italiane is buying TIM shares on the open market and increasing the stake it already held at the end of the public takeover bid, raising its shareholding from 85.82 per cent to 86.952 per cent of the share capital – an increase of just over 1 per cent.

The company led by Matteo Del Fante and Giuseppe Lasco took advantage of the fall in the telecoms firm’s share price on the Milan Stock Exchange to buy shares on the market at a price below 6.65 euros – the price at which the buy-and-swap offer, which concluded on 25 September, valued TIM. The telecoms company’s share price fell from €7.20 on 25 September to €6.57. The purchases, handled by Intermonte, were made at various price levels, ranging from a low of €6.57 up to just under €6.65.

The OPAS involved a share swap and a cash component, amounting to €1.67, which was subsequently raised to €1.97 at the start of the month. Poste Italiane’s objective remains the delisting of TIM: it is therefore reasonable for it to seek to reach the 90 per cent threshold by buying shares on the market, upon reaching which the squeeze-out procedure may be triggered – that is, the buyback aimed at delisting a security.

The point is that this process is by no means a foregone conclusion: the law stipulates that the bidder – in this case, Poste – may not purchase TIM shares on the market for the next six months at a price below €6.65. Therefore, if the market were to bet on share buybacks, TIM’s share price could rise on the stock exchange, exceeding that ceiling. For this reason, the company led by Del Fante has no choice but to sit on the sidelines and assess whether and when to take advantage of the opportunities that arise.