INWIT's controlling shareholders line up financing for a possible take-private, Reuters reports

Italy's largest mobile-tower company may be headed off the stock market. Its two leading shareholders — French private equity firm Ardian and the Oak Holdings 1 investment vehicle — are lining up financing for a possible take-private bid for INWIT, two people close to the matter told Reuters on Sunday, with Abu Dhabi's Mubadala expected to take a stake in the deal, according to one of the people.

Ardian controls 32% of INWIT and Oak Holdings controls 39%, according to the report — a combined 71% that would make a bid for the remaining minority, worth roughly €1.8 billion at Friday's close, a largely mechanical exercise. Oak Holdings is backed by co-investors GIP, Vodafone and KKR, the people said, and the group has opened financing discussions with banks.

The sources stressed the talks are still at the deliberation stage. Ardian, GIP, Vodafone, KKR and Mubadala all declined to comment, and an INWIT spokesperson said the company had no information on the matter. There is no formal offer on the table — yet.

One note on sourcing: the core of this story — the financing talks, the holdings, the expected Mubadala stake — comes from two people close to the matter speaking to Reuters; every party named declined to comment or said it had no information, so the bid remains reported, not confirmed.

The contract fight that erased a quarter of INWIT's value

The timing is not accidental. INWIT's market value has fallen about 27% over the past year to €6.3 billion — about $7.1 billion at Friday's exchange rate — according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. That works out to roughly €2.3 billion of lost value, and the cause is a contractual war with the company's two anchor tenants.

Telecom Italia (TIM) and Swisscom's Fastweb have both moved to end their tower contracts with INWIT as they push for cheaper terms. In March, Fastweb — which had absorbed Vodafone Italia — gave formal notice that its master service agreement would end in March 2028, arguing INWIT's tower costs were above market and that the company had refused to negotiate. INWIT called the termination unlawful, insisted the contract runs to 2038, and went to court to block it.

The courts have not been kind to INWIT. In July, a Milan judge rejected its request to urgently suspend Fastweb's withdrawal; days earlier, another judge rejected a similar request against TIM. Fitch Ratings kept INWIT at BBB- with a negative watch on Sept. 28, noting the two customers account for 88% of INWIT's 2025 revenue. Fastweb is targeting a March 2028 exit; TIM is aiming for August 2030.

Why the shareholders are moving now

Takeover speculation has swirled around INWIT since February, when a French media report linked Ardian and Brookfield to a possible take-private. What is new in Sunday's report is the financing: the shareholders are now talking to banks, the step that turns speculation into a bid process.

For Ardian and Oak Holdings, the logic is straightforward. They already control 71% of a company whose valuation has fallen by more than a quarter, largely on the back of a contract dispute they cannot settle from the shareholder register. Taking INWIT private would let them restructure the tenant relationships and the capital structure away from public-market scrutiny — and buy the 29% minority at a price set while the dispute still hangs over the shares. GIP, now part of BlackRock, brings infrastructure-deal muscle; Vodafone and KKR sit inside the Oak vehicle; Mubadala's expected participation would add Abu Dhabi sovereign capital to the consortium.

What has to happen next

Deliberations are ongoing, and there is no announced offer, no price, and no timetable. The open questions are whether the bank talks produce committed financing, what premium the consortium offers a minority that has watched 27% of the value evaporate, and how INWIT's board responds if a formal bid lands.

The contract litigation is the other clock. Fitch expects a final post-appeal decision on INWIT's injunction requests by November 2026 — a ruling against the company would harden the tenants' exit path and could reframe any bid price. Watch for a formal offer announcement, any INWIT board statement beyond "no information," and confirmation of Mubadala's role.