AT&T no longer pursuing Telecom Italia SpA

US based telecom giant AT&T has announced that they are no longer part of the talks going on to acquire stake in the holding company Olimpia SpA that controls Telecom Italia SpA.

This comes at the time when Telecom Italia shareholders are meeting to elect new board members. Olimpia SpA had started talks with AT&T and America Movil SA with the aim of selling a two-thirds stake in Olimpia.

America Movil in its statement has said that they would continue to pursue “different alternatives for a potential investment in Olimpia.”

There were concerns in the region about selling major portions of a strategic national asset to foreign companies. This even resulted in Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, Italy’s largest bank saying that they would consider entering the talks.

Intesa Sanpaolo’s Corrado Passera spoke on their plans: “We might consider a shareholding participation if this looks like a good idea for us and our shareholders.”