Minor shareholders back network plan

A group of Telecom Italia’s minor shareholders have published proposals which call for the firm to spin off its networks business into a new company. Associazione Azionisti Telecom Italia (ASATI) wants the telco to retain a majority stake in the networks business, with other shares being offered to institutional investors and via a public sale. ASATI expects the new entity to have a market capitalisation of between EUR14 billion and EUR16 billion (USD20.5 billion-USD23-5 billion), EUR8 billion of which would be debt, reports Il Sole 24 Ore. Both Telecom Italia’s management and the country’s telecoms regulator Agcom are in favour of the network spin-off though firm plans have still to be put in place.