Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo Sells Stake in Metroweb Holding

By Gilles Castonguay

MILAN--Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP.MI) Thursday said it had sold for 20 million euros ($25.8 million) its entire stake in the majority shareholder of Metroweb SpA, the operator of a fiber-optic network in the north of the country.

Intesa said in a statement its IMI Investimenti unit had sold the 12.5% stake in F2i Reti TLC to F2i, a fund that invests in infrastructure.

"Intesa Sanpaolo, with the sale of shares in F2i Reti TLC...deems to have concluded its role in supporting last year's acquisition of Metroweb by F2i and the development of the company," it said.

The deal was earlier reported by Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.

With the purchase of Intesa Sanpaolo's stake, F2i becomes the sole owner of F2i Reti TLC, an investment vehicle that owns a 61.4% of Metroweb.

Based in Milan, Metroweb plans to expand its network to cover 30 cities in Italy.

Other Metroweb shareholders include utility A2A SpA (A2A.MI) with 25.7%, Fastweb of Swisscom AG (SCMN.VX) with 11.2% and Metroweb's management with 1.7%.

Write to Gilles Castonguay at [e-mail]; Twitter: @GRCastonguay

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