MILAN (Reuters) – An appeals court has rejected an Italian government request to suspend a 1 billion euro ($1 billion) payment to Telecom Italia (TIM) pending a final decision in a dispute linked to the liberalisation of the telecoms sector, the ruling showed.
Shares in TIM rose after the decision was made public on Wednesday, but gave up most of the gains to stand 0.5% higher by 1423 GMT.
Italy’s Supreme Court later this year is expected to rule after the government appealed against a lower court decision that found against it last April.
Pending the final outcome of the case, which dates back to 1998, the government had asked for the freezing of the payment. The sum has doubled in size because of interest.
TIM said in a note it had been informed of the decision.
Lawyers representing the government did not respond to requests for comment.
TIM Chief Executive Pietro Labriola said in November that any cash from the case could be used to support shareholder reward plans.
($1 = 0.9588 euros)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Paolo Chiriatti; Writing by Cristina Carlevaro, editing by Giulia Segreti, Keith Weir and Barbara Lewis)
