Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) has entered into an agreement to join the Optics BidCo investor group, which is acquiring NetCo — the most extensive telecoms network in Italy — from Telecom Italia. CPP Investments has committed to acquire a 17.5 percent interest in NetCo for up to €2 billion ($2.19 billion), as part of a transaction that values the business at an enterprise value of approximately €18.8 billion ($19.7 billion).
The investor group, led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), includes a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the Italian infrastructure fund F2i and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Italian government.
The newly defined NetCo business will primarily comprise the fixed network assets being separated out from Telecom Italia, offering connectivity to homes and businesses across the country on an open-access wholesale basis with a mix of copper- and fiber-based technolog