Call this activism? The campaign by a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker against Telecom Italia SpA’s €20 billion-plus ($21 billion) sale of its network to KKR & Co. is short on credibility and long on risk. But amid the noise, there’s a challenge that neither the former phone monopoly nor the US buyout firm can ignore.

Alessandro Barnaba, who spent most of his JPMorgan career in derivatives, has teamed up with Stefano Siragusa, a former Telecom Italia executive who left last year, to blast the phone company’s board. There’s no disagreement about the core problem and the likely remedy: Telecom Italia’s €31 billion of borrowings are so costly to service that the business is constrained from investing. So asset sales are needed. The disagreement is over what should be jettisoned.

QOSHE - JPMorgan Alum Overreaches in Fight to Halt KKR’s Telecom Italia Deal - Chris Hughes
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JPMorgan Alum Overreaches in Fight to Halt KKR’s Telecom Italia Deal

4 1
03.11.2023

Call this activism? The campaign by a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker against Telecom Italia SpA’s €20 billion-plus ($21 billion) sale of its network to KKR & Co. is short on credibility........

© Bloomberg

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