Italy’s state broadcaster RAI could sell part of its stake in tower company Rai Way to state-backed firms as a way to collect resources for investments, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Thursday.
His remarks may signal the right-wing government’s willingness to review plans to merge Rai Way and unlisted rival EI Towers, as envisaged by former Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
“RAI could consider ceding part of its holding to entities that could even be under public control,” Giorgetti said during a parliamentary hearing.
Draghi in March 2022 approved a decree allowing RAI to cut the stake in Rai Way to 30% from the current 65%, in a move that was expected to trigger consolidation in the television and radio mast sector.
But even then Giorgetti, who served as industry minister under Draghi, publicly criticised the scheme as he felt that RAI should not have control of the group stemming from the merger.
EI Towers is 40%-owned by Italy’s top commercial broadcaster MediaForEurope (MFE). Italian infrastructure fund F2i holds the remaining 60%.
Source: Reuters.com