(Bloomberg) — Italian lender UniCredit SpA approved a credit facility of about 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) for Telecom Italia SpA, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The loan will become effective after the financing receives sign-off from Italy’s trade-credit insurer Sace SpA, the people said, asking to not be named because the process is private. The guarantee will also require the publication of a decree signed by Italy’s finance and economic development ministries.
UniCredit is leading a pool of banks to arrange the state-backed facility for Telecom Italia, which would help the former phone monopolist shore up its finances after booking an 8.6 billion-euro fourth-quarter loss. The phone carrier also reported falling earnings in the first quarter of this year.
Sace’s board of directors will meet Wednesday to approve the financing, some of the people said. Unicredit’s risk committee approved the loan last week.
Representatives for Telecom Italia and UniCredit declined to comment. A representative for Sace wasn’t immediately available to comment.
Sace traditionally provides loans to Italian exporters, but has stepped in to back some of the country’s largest companies throughout the pandemic. If approved, the Telecom Italia loan would be one of its largest guarantees since backing a 6.3 billion-euro credit for the Italian unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV in 2020.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
