By Gilles Castonguay
MILAN--Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP.MI) Thursday said
it had sold for 20 million euros ($25.8 million) its entire stake
in the majority shareholder of Metroweb SpA, the operator of a
fiber-optic network in the north of the country.
Intesa said in a statement its IMI Investimenti unit had sold
the 12.5% stake in F2i Reti TLC to F2i, a fund that invests in
infrastructure.
"Intesa Sanpaolo, with the sale of shares in F2i Reti
TLC...deems to have concluded its role in supporting last year's
acquisition of Metroweb by F2i and the development of the company,"
it said.
The deal was earlier reported by Italian newspaper Il
Messaggero.
With the purchase of Intesa Sanpaolo's stake, F2i becomes the
sole owner of F2i Reti TLC, an investment vehicle that owns a 61.4%
of Metroweb.
Based in Milan, Metroweb plans to expand its network to cover 30
cities in Italy.
Other Metroweb shareholders include utility A2A SpA (A2A.MI)
with 25.7%, Fastweb of Swisscom AG (SCMN.VX) with 11.2% and
Metroweb's management with 1.7%.
Write to Gilles Castonguay at gilles.castonguay@dowjones.com;
Twitter: @GRCastonguay
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