The acquisition of Telecom Italia by Poste Italiane has made significant progress

Before the acquisition began, Poste Italiane already held 20% of the shares of Telecom Italia (TIM). Through this offer, a large number of tradable shares were absorbed, and the shareholding ratio directly crossed the control line. Based on public information, after the main period of this offer ended, Poste Italiane obtained 66.6% of the shares of TIM. This transaction was valued at 13 billion euros and was one of the large-scale enterprise mergers in Italy in recent years. It has attracted the attention of the European capital market from the very beginning.

To attract more shareholders to surrender their stocks, Poste Italiane adjusted the cash portion of the acquisition plan. The cash offer was increased by 18%, and the adjusted cash price became 1.97 euros per share. The entire acquisition adopted a mixed model of cash plus share swap. For each TIM stock surrendered by shareholders, they could receive 0.218 newly issued Poste Italiane shares.

This mixed price design has different attractiveness for different types of shareholders. Investors who value short-term returns are more likely to choose the cash settlement option. Investors who are long-term optimistic about the development after the merger will prefer the share swap option and continue to hold the equity of the merged entity. Increasing the cash offer was an important means to promote the high acceptance of this tender offer.

During the process of the acquisition, Poste Italiane made a crucial adjustment by abandoning the previously set minimum acceptance threshold of 66.67%. Acquisition offers often set a minimum acceptance ratio. If the final participating shareholders fail to reach this figure, the acquiring party has the right to terminate the entire transaction directly. Keeping the threshold can avoid the risk that the acquiring party invests funds but fails to obtain sufficient control rights.

However, this time Poste Italiane took the initiative to remove this restriction. Even if the original threshold was not met, the acquisition could still proceed normally. This move also sent out a very clear signal: The company is determined to complete this acquisition and does not intend to terminate it easily. This change has also alleviated the concerns of some shareholders. After removing the threshold, shareholders no longer need to worry about the acquisition being aborted halfway, and their willingness to participate in the offer has increased accordingly.

Although the main acquisition stage has ended, the entire acquisition process has not come to an end. Poste Italiane announced that the offer window will reopen, with the new time period set from September 21st to September 25th. This second reopening period is mainly for the remaining shareholders who have not made a decision yet. Investors who have submitted their shares in the main stage will not have their transaction arrangements affected. Those who have not participated can choose during these days whether to sell their TIM stocks to it. In the rules of European listed company acquisitions, such delays or reopening of the offer window are relatively common operations.

TIM was once the monopoly enterprise for domestic telephone services in Italy, with a huge infrastructure. However, it has long faced problems such as weak business growth and heavy debt pressure. Poste Italiane, backed by state support, has sufficient financial strength. After acquiring the controlling stake, it can reorganize TIM's assets and network business. The acquisition news also attracted investors' attention to the Milan stock market. The European capital market has experienced considerable fluctuations recently, and this large-scale domestic acquisition has become a key event for the Italian stock market, attracting many European institutional funds to track the progress.