Telecom Italia SpA (TI) controlling shareholder Telco said Thursday it wrote down its 24.5% stake in Italy's largest telecoms operator, posting a first-half loss of EUR1.5 billion.

In a statement, unlisted holding company Telco - which groups Italian banks Mediobanca (MB.MI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), insurer Assicurazioni Generali (G.MI), the Benetton family and Spain's Telefonica (TEF) - said the value of its investment in Telecom Italia was written down by EUR1.395 billion.

After Telco's long-awaited write-down, Telecom Italia shares are now valued at EUR2.2 each, against a current market value of EUR0.99.

Telefonica and the four Italian investors which together bought control of Telecom Italia in April 2007, had said in July they had lost about EUR5 billion on their initial investment in Italy's phone operator.

-By Giada Zampano, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 6976 6925; giada.zampano@dowjones.com

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