Telecom Italia Appoints Advisors for Network Spinoff - COO

By Manuela Mesco

ROME--Telecom Italia SpA (TIT.MI) has appointed advisors to proceed with the spin-off of its fixed-line network, Chief Operating Officer Marco Patuano said Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Rome, Mr. Patuano said the advisors for the operation are Morgan Stanley (MS), Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), Mediobanca (MB.MI)and Barclays Bank (BARC.LN), MF Dow Jones reports.

In October, Italy's largest telecom operator announced that it had launched a process to select advisors. The company stressed at the time that the advisory activity will be "merely intended to acquire technical, economic and financial value elements".

The network spin-off will be discussed in a board meeting in December and a decision could come by the end of the year, Chief Executive Franco Bernabe previously said. But the details of the operation are not yet clear.

When asked whether Telecom Italia could be interested in Vivendi SA's (VIV.FR) Brazilian unit GVT, Mr. Patuano said, "Gvt is a fixed-line operator in Brazil and we are the second mobile operator in the country. We're looking at it as you look at many other things."

Write to Manuela Mesco at [e-mail]

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