Italy’s Wind Tre nearing sale of majority stake in grid to EQT

Italian telecoms operator Wind Tre is nearing a deal to sell a majority stake in its infrastructure business to Swedish private equity firm EQT , two sources familiar with the matter said.

Wind Tre’s infrastructure business mainly consists of a so-called active mobile network – or antennas – which are spread across Italy, and a portion of the landline network known as the ‘backbone’.

Like other telecoms operators in Italy, Wind Tre has been grappling with aggressive price competition that eroded earnings just as these companies face heavy investments to build a fifth-generation mobile grid.

The sources said Wind Tre would outline to unions on Wednesday plans to spin-off its network assets into a separate company.

The spin-off will pave the way for the sale of a majority stake in the grid company to EQT, the sources said, adding a final agreement had not yet been signed. The sources said EQT would buy a 60-65% stake in the newly-created venture.

Owned by CK Hutchison, the ports-to-telecoms arm of retired billionaire Li Ka-shing, Wind Tre will shift some 2,000 workers out of a total 6,500 workers in Italy into the network venture, sources have previously said.

EQT and Wind Tre declined to comment. CK Hutchinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters