Poste Italiane closed the first window of its takeover and share-swap offer on TIM holding 66.63% of the phone company's capital. The OPAS, launched on 20 July and closed on 11 September, collected 993,608,722 TIM shares, equal to 46.5% of the share capital and to 58.2297% of the shares targeted by the offer: added to the 20.1% already held by the group led by Matteo Del Fante, the acceptances take Poste beyond two thirds of TIM. The decisive acceleration came in the final session, when 635,897,378 shares were tendered and acceptances jumped from 21% on Thursday to 58.2297% of the securities sought. The outcome carries the mark of the sweetened terms announced on 7 September: 30 cents more in cash, lifting the consideration to 1.97 euros plus 0.218 Poste shares per TIM share, and the waiver of the 66.67% minimum-acceptance condition that could have sunk the offer.
Clearing two thirds of the capital is not an arithmetic detail. With that stake Poste also controls TIM's extraordinary shareholders' meeting in practice, and it holds the tools to approve the resolutions reserved for a qualified majority, including the option of merging the company into an unlisted vehicle: a route that could lead to a TIM delisting even without reaching 90% straight away. That 90% threshold remains the target, because it would trigger the obligation to buy out the remaining shares and would open the way for the stock to leave Borsa Italiana. The game, however, is not over: the acceptance period reopens for five trading sessions, from 21 to 25 September, as envisaged by the waiver of the 66.67% minimum threshold decided by Poste. Investors who have already tendered will be paid on 18 September, acceptances submitted during the reopening will settle on 2 October, and the definitive results of the first phase will be disclosed on 17 September.
The market read the first-window outcome as a confirmation. In the 11 September session TIM gained 1.82% to close at 7.62 euros, while Poste Italiane rose 1.92% to 26.06 euros. At those prices the offer consideration is worth about 7.65 euros per TIM share, slightly above the market quote and thus a modest premium for those who accepted. In the case of full acceptance, the overall value of the deal would approach 11.3 billion euros, of which just over 3.3 billion in cash, funded through bank debt. TIM chief executive Pietro Labriola and the managers with strategic responsibilities also tendered their shares, having judged the consideration fair and consistent on industrial grounds. Poste confirmed its dividend policy for 2026 and a commitment to rising remuneration from 2027, while general manager Giuseppe Lasco called the project "historic" for the country, with effects on employment and digital transformation.
