KKR likely to fail in its bid to acquire TIM

Telecom Italia has blocked US private equity firm KKR from access to its books, signalling the likely end of KKR’s efforts to acquire the Italian incumbent. KKR made a non-binding bid for TIM last year, offering €10.8bn, but since then, a new group CEO, Pietro Labriola, has taken the helm and put a restructuring plan in place, including proposals to separate the network and services businesses to unlock shareholder value and attract third party investors. The split would pave the way for a merger with rival Open Fiber, creating a single national fiber network that has been demanded by some of the Italian government. Formal discussions between TIM and KKR only began in late March, but the US firm said…