Tim is in the spotlight today on Piazza Affari, supported by expectations of new consolidation operations in the European telecommunications sector. In today’s session, Wednesday 15 October, the shares of the group led by Pietro Labriola gained up to +4.8% to 0.5 euros, in the wake of the joint offer presented in France for the assets of Altice France, parent company of the operator SFR. Tim’s value then fell, but still remains in positive territory at around 0.48 euros per share. The market therefore seems to be betting that the wave of mergers and acquisitions could soon involve Italy too, where competitive pressure and reduced margins make rationalization of the sector increasingly urgent.
The offer for the French SFR
On the evening of Tuesday 14 October, Bouygues Telecom, Iliad (Free group) and Orange announced that they had presented a non-binding €17 billion proposal to take over the majority of Altice’s French activities, in an operation that values the group at over €21 billion. The objective is to reduce the number of infrastructure operators on the French market from four to three, improving efficiency and economic sustainability in a context characterized by high investments and margins under pressure. However, Altice immediately rejected the offer, CEO Arthur Dreyfuss told employees. The operation, if carried out, would represent one of the largest movements in the European TLC sector in recent years, with a division already outlined between the partners: Bouygues would cover 43% of the overall value, Iliad 30% and Orange 27%.
A signal for the European authorities and for Italy
The potential consolidation in France is seen by analysts as a key test to understand the attitude of European authorities towards mergers between infrastructure operators. According to Mediobanca,
“an agreement in France could facilitate the consolidation process in southern European countries, including Italy, thanks to a more favorable attitude on the part of the EU Commission”.
Intermonte also underlined that a more stable context and more flexible regulators could favor greater industrial efficiency and a return to profitability for European telecommunications groups. Furthermore, Equita pointed out, Iliad’s financial commitment in the French game (over 5 billion euros in enterprise value) could reduce the group’s interest in being present in Italy, thus opening the door to possible sale scenarios or strategic alliances.
What’s next for Tim
Again according to Equita, for Tim the evolving European context is a positive sign, even if still preliminary. In recent months Tim and Iliad have been at the center of integration hypotheses as part of the consolidation of the telecommunications sector in Italy. After Iliad’s failed attempt to acquire Vodafone Italia in 2022, the French group had more recently started negotiations for a merger with Tim in order to create an integrated fixed-mobile operator. However, at the end of August the same state CEO of Iliad, Thomas Reynaud, had explained that the talks with Tim had already ended for some time. Now, however, the game in France could also reopen the Italian one.
