CEO at KKR-backed FiberCop plans to resign in strategy clash

The chief executive officer of FiberCop, Italy’s largest telecoms network operator, plans to resign over disagreements on future strategy.

CEO Luigi Ferraris, 62, could announce his departure as soon as Thursday, when the firm holds a board meeting, people familiar with the matter said, adding that a definitive decision has not yet been made.

Ferraris, a former head of state-controlled rail company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane SpA, was named to the post at FiberCop in July by KKR & Co. Inc., which owns about 38% of the firm. Italy’s Finance Ministry holds a minority stake.

The company manages the ultra-broadband network assets that were purchased last year from Telecom Italia SpA in a landmark deal valued at as much as €22 billion ($23 billion).

FiberCop runs more than 25 million kilometers of fiber optics and employs about 20,000 people.

Representatives for FiberCop, KKR and the Finance Ministry each declined to comment. Ferraris wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Italy’s government has for years been discussing the possibility of combining the landline network assets that are now under FiberCop with smaller rival Open Fiber SpA. A single network would avoid billions of euros in duplicate investments and is in line with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s push to boost digital services in the country.

Corriere della Sera said earlier on Wednesday that Ferraris could be planning to resign, citing market speculation. The company denied the Corriere report. Bloomberg