Mind-Blowing Twist: Telecom Italia’s Jaw-Dropping €22.5 Billion Offer Is Put to the Ultimate Test!

One thing to start: International accounting firm Deloitte has resigned as auditor of Byju’s, India’s most valued start-up, saying the education technology firm failed to deliver any financial results for the 2021 business year -22. Moreover Here.

In today’s newsletter:

• Vivendi contests KKR’s Telecom Italia offer

• Rocket Internet’s Big Dividend

• GIC is targeting private deals in the US

KKR and Vivendi dig into Telecom Italia assets

If I were tempted to think Vivendithe French media group controlled by the billionaire Vincenzo Bollorecould back down in the last round of his fight with TelecomItalia (TIM) on the future of its precious fixed network, think again.

While the Italian mobile telephony and broadband group has negotiated exclusively with the US private equity fund kkr extension official Thursday, its main shareholder Vivendi he’s digging to fight the salepeople familiar with the situation told Adrienne Klasa and Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli of the FT.

Vivendi, which holds a 23.75% stake in TIM and more than 17% of its voting rights, believes the private equity group’s offer undervalues ​​the network and that any sale would be a strategic mistake.

“Separating the network without solving the problem of Telecom Italia’s future is just procrastinating. . . and poor governance and management,” said one of the people.

Vivendi “is fighting this battle because the asset that is the flagship of the company is the network. So if you separate the network from the rest of the business, it’s a dead man walking,” the person added.

While KKR’s bid values ​​the network at around €22.5 billion, Vivendi claims it is worth more than €30 billion.

The French group has invested more than 4 billion euros to build its stake in TIM since 2015, initially advertising it as a strategy to create a media champion in southern Europe.

However, he had to write down his investment twice as the valuation of the Italian company plummeted due to high debt, increased internal competition, lower margins and multiple management reviews.

TIM’s board said it wants to have a binding offer to sell the network to KKR by the end of September.

The Italian authorities, meanwhile, seem to be losing patience with Vivendi. Some officials said the French group’s “tacitly obstructive opposition” to the deal had “deeply” angered Roma, which did not believe Vivendi had a viable alternative solution.

“Either that or a capital increase. It is understandable that they don’t want to lose money on their investment, but this behavior is rather childish because the alternatives to KKR — CDP AND Macquarie — it doesn’t look good,” a senior Italian official said, referring to two other bidders who value the network at below 20 billion euros.

Rocket Internet becomes a cash cow for its founder

Last time DD checked in Oliver Samwerthe head of the German technology investor Rocket Internetit was drastically slowing new business and cutting costs, in stark contrast to its previous aggressive tactics.

But while Samwer may be backing off on new investments, it’s stepping up in other areas.

Samwer is set to receive an annual dividend of 260 million euros after Thursday’s annual general meeting, DD’s Ivan Levingston revealed. That payment, through a vehicle through which his family controls Rocket, marks a huge increase from previous years and comes after Samwer tightens his grip on the group.

It also emphasizes the ways that it is moving the business away from its roots as one of Europe’s most prolific start-up lenders, to a more conservative investment house focused on generating profits.

So while Rocket shut down one of its investment units, abandoned plans to create a new seed fund and urged some companies to adopt more conservative spending plans, the focus now appears to be on generating cash for the its owners.

“The overall theme is to get as much cash as possible,” said a person familiar with the firm.

The dividend hike also comes after Samwer increased his control when the company bought a large stake held by an activist investor Elliott management. This left Samwer’s vehicle with approximately 83% ownership of Rocket Internet.

GIC goes private asset hunting in the United States

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC is focusing its bets on the United States, a decision that will be music to the ears of many of the largest private equity and venture capital firms in the world.

GIC, whose assets analysts estimate exceed $700 billion, told private equity and venture capital executives this year that it plans to increase exposure to U.S.-focused funds, People familiarity with investor thinking he told the FT.

“We can’t suggest opportunities fast enough,” said a partner at a global venture fund with a San Francisco office. “They look forward to what we have from San Francisco to Orlando.”

The focus on the United States by one of Asia’s largest sovereign wealth funds reflects optimism in the resilience of the country’s major technology companies despite strong sell-offs last year. The US is also a prime hunting ground for AI companies as the industry expands.

It comes as the fund seeks to grow outside of China and at a time of slumping funding and declining valuations for private start-ups in the US.

GIC closed 63 deals involving US-based private companies, including tech, healthcare and property in 2022 and 2021, up from 39 in 2019 and 2018, according to data from Finishing.

GIC also appears to be looking for hires. It’s advertising 18 U.S. jobs, according to posts at LinkedIn. An advert is for a specialist in the private equity secondary market and other senior roles in equities, fixed income and portfolio management.

GIG has been a major direct investor in major recent deals such as the leveraged buyouts of zendesk AND McAfee as well as Black stoneis clipped from Emersonclimate affairs.

The work moves

• Tick ​​tock Chief operations officer Vanessa Dad he is resigning. Zenia Muchaan ex Walt Disney executive, joins as chief brand and head of communications.

• Goldman Sachs co-head of technology investment banking Tammy Kiley he is leaving the bank for the boutique Evercore Partneraccording to Bloomberg.

• L Cattertona consumer-focused investment firm, he took over Peter Chang as managing partner and co-head of private credit. Joins from Oaktree Capital Management.

• City he named Reto Faber as head of securities services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Smart readings

Barbarians in the library US private equity group KKR is among the bidders for book publisher Simon & Schuster, which was put up for sale after US regulators blocked a merger with rival firm Penguin Random House. But private equity is a good owner for the good, asks the FT.

Disney loses its magic After a string of mega-hit box office hits, some of the Disney studio’s latest offerings have performed relatively poorly. Will the company behind the Marvel franchise be able to get its magic back? reports the FT.

Bankers lose For decades, investment bankers have been the envy of Wall Street, earning big salaries and bonuses. Now, corporate lawyer paychecks are he surpassed them and a deal drought is prompting some of the top tech bankers to do so leave big business such as Goldman Sachs for minor peers.

News review

Fortress Investment Group decided to acquire Vice after bankruptcy (New York Times)

Ocado shares rise on speculation on Amazon offers (FT)

Microsoft Paints Sony as ‘Complainer-in-Chief’ Against $75B Activision Deal (FT)

MSC said it was entering exclusive talks to buy train operator Italo (Bloomberg)

German chemical group Covestro rejects Abu Dhabi’s 13 billion euro approach (FT)