Telecom Italia board to meet Sunday on KKR’s takeover proposal-sources

MILAN (Reuters) – The board of Telecom Italia (TIM) will meet on Sunday over a takeover proposal by U.S. fund KKR, which is already an investor in the Italian phone group’s fixed network, two sources close to the matter said.

KKR last year paid 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) for a 37.5% stake in FiberCop, the unit holding TIM’s last-mile network connecting street cabinets to people’s homes.

With debt-laden TIM evaluating options for its fixed-line grid, its most prized asset to counter shrinking revenue and profits, KKR has readied a proposal to take over the group and carve out the network, another person with knowledge of the matter said.

News of the extraordinary board meeting was first reported by Italian daily Corriere della Sera’s website.

($1 = 0.8859 euros)

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; writing by Valentina Za; editing by Andrew Heavens)