Telecom Italia S.p.A. (BIT:TIT) on January 26, 2022 opened the door to a spin-off of its prized infrastructure assets, saying its newly appointed chief executive would explore options to create value for shareholders. Italy's embattled former phone monopoly will also continue to study a takeover approach by U.S. fund KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) and compare it with possible strategic alternatives.

TIM, on January 21, 2022 named General Manager Pietro Labriola as Chief Executive Officer, its fifth boss in six years. Under fire after a string of profit warnings, former Chief Executive Officer Luigi Gubitosi quit in November 2021, a week after KKR tabled a €10.8 billion ($12.18 billion) non-binding bid to take the group private, to which TIM never responded. "The Chief Executive Officer underscored the need to guarantee a stable, long-lasting growth outlook for the network infrastructure, in the interest of all stakeholders," TIM said.

Sources had previously said TIM would pursue the separation so as to have its services and infrastructure assets each carry a portion of its debt and staff. A split of TIM's operations would pave the way for a merger of TIM's infrastructure assets with those of state-owned rival Open Fiber, a move advocated by CDP, while making it less likely KKR could take control of the group.