Italy's PM Declines To Comment On Offer For Telecom Italia

ROME (MF-Dow Jones)--Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi Tuesday declined to comment on a combined offer by U.S. telecoms giant AT&T and its Mexican partner America Movil for the indirect control of Italy's largest telecoms group, Telecom Italia.

Prodi, in his first public reference to the issue, declined to comment saying he had not seen the offers for the former Italian telecoms monopoly.

It emerged late Sunday that AT&T and America Movil and Telecom Italia's main shareholder Pirelli are holding exclusive talks on a EUR2.7 billion offer, which would give the U.S. company and the Mexican phone operator a third each of unlisted holding company Olimpia, which controls 18% of Telecom Italia.

A deal would be worth EUR2.82 per Telecom Italia share for Pirelli, with the buyers also taking over EUR1.9 billion in debt owed by Olimpia.

Italian government officials Monday were quick to express alarm over the possible deal for the former telecoms state monopoly as the offer follows Swisscom's bid for Fastweb, which is Italy's second-largest Internet broadband provider and one of the country's largest fixed-line phone providers.

-Gugliemo Valia, MF-Dow Jones, and Liam Moloney, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 678 2543; liam.moloney@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 3rd April 2007